Love's Potion
by lolagirl
Summary: Hermione and Draco are alone on Valentine's Day, and someone has spiked the butterbeer with a love potion. Chaos ensues. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:** **This is my first shot at fan fiction, so if you read and decide to review, feel free to tell me if you think it sucks - just so long as you let me know _exactly_ what sucks. This is just going to be a short story, with only either one or two more chapters.**

**Disclaimer:** **I own absolutely nothing related to Harry Potter.**

"What's a mudblood like you doing in a place like this?"

Hermione Granger sighed and looked up at the blonde boy who seemed to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere beside her table. "If that's the best pickup line you can think to use, Malfoy, then perhaps you should consider taking dating advice from a five-year-old."

Draco Malfoy scoffed. "Sorry to disappoint you Granger, but the only reason I would ever 'pick you up' is if I was going to throw you into the lake."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Great. Well, it was nice chatting with you Ferret," she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She ignored him and turned her attention back to her book She was hoping that he would take a hint and leave, but she forgot for a moment that he was Malfoy. One of the biggest pleasures in his life seemed to be tormenting her.

He took a seat across the table from her. "So where's Potter and Weasel?"

She sighed once more, against her better judgment. In the case of Draco Malfoy, when he was annoying you it was best to just ignore him. "How should I know?"

Draco smirked his famous smirk. And if she wasn't mistaken, Hermione could have sworn she saw a slight twinkle in his normally dead gray eyes. "Do I sense trouble in paradise? Is the Golden Trio breaking up?"

"Yes, Malfoy," Hermione said dryly. "We're breaking up. But for legal reasons, I am not allowed to discuss it. Although," she said, leaning over the table and lowering her voice to a whisper, "just between you and me, would you believe that Ron actually has the nerve to request custody of Crookshanks?" She sat back in her chair and shrugged. "Although I really have no right to complain. I'm fighting for custody of Harry's Quidditch broom."

Draco chuckled. So the mudblood had a sense of humor. Not much of one, but still. "I get it, I get it. It's Valentine's day, and they're both off having snogfests with their girlfriends, leaving you to sit all alone in a bar reading a book, pretending like you couldn't care less."

"Something like that," Hermione mumbled, trying to sound as disinterested as possible. She continued reading her book.

"Hey," Draco called over to the barmaid, who acknowledged him with a smile and a blush. He had that effect on women. "Can we get two butterbeers over here?"

"Sure thing," the waitress said with a wink. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Who says I want a butterbeer?" she asked.

"Who says I care whether you do or not?" Draco smirked.

Hermione sighed again and slammed her book shut. She glanced around the bar. "Surely they must have a 'No Ferrets' section here. I think I'll just move over there."

She got up to leave, but was stopped by Draco grabbing her arm. "Not so fast, mudblood. Where are your manners?"

"I don't know, Malfoy. Probably off somewhere with yours," she shot back. "Now get your dirty hands off of me."

Draco snorted. "You want to talk about _dirty_, mudblood? You're the one who's got dirt running all through her veins."

"That's an old routine, Malfoy. You ever think of coming up with something new?"

"And waste all that time and effort on someone like you? Nah. I'm content with the mudblood remarks. Especially now that I know their redundancy annoys you."

"Smart," Hermione said sarcastically. She glanced down at her arm, which was still held tight by Draco's hand. She knew there was no way she would be able to escape from his grasp, so she just gave up and sat back down. The second she did, he removed his hand.

"So," she said, eyeing him suspiciously. "It's Valentine's Day, and we've already established why _I'm_ here-"

"Because you're just a know-it-all-bookworm with absolutely nothing to offer anyone? Because you're horribly unattractive and no guy in his right mind would ever dare to touch you, with fear that you might give them some sort of deadly muggle disease?"

His words, as usual, stung. She opened her mouth to let him have it, but was interrupted by their waitress setting their butterbeers down on the table. She smiled and looked at Hermione, then at Draco. "Enjoy your drinks, kids." She winked again at Malfoy, and then walked off, probably aware that he was staring at her ass the entire time.

"Ugh!" Hermione threw up her hands in exasperation. "Must you always be an insufferable git?"

"Oh please, Granger. Just drink your butterbeer and shut the hell up. Has anyone ever told you that when you whine, your voice slightly resembles nails on a chalkboard?"

Hermione gaped at the boy sitting across from her. Was he for real? "If you find me so annoying Malfoy, then why don't you go be a prick somewhere else? I'm sure I don't need to remind you that _you_ were the one who so rudely invited himself to sit with me."

Draco grinned and took a sip from his mug, making a face. "Hmm."

Hermione gave him a quizzical look. "What?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Tastes different."

Hermione took a sip of her own butterbeer. The ferret was right – it did taste different. A little too sweet. Nevertheless, she took another sip. This time, it seemed less sweet, but she couldn't help but notice the strange tingling sensation on her tongue. "Weird," she muttered. She glanced back up at Draco. "You're avoiding this discussion."

Draco took another sip of his butterbeer. "You call this a discussion?"

Hermione smiled at him. "You don't even want me to ask the question."

He furrowed his brow at her. "You're delirious Granger. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you do, Malfoy." She sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. "We've – I mean, _you've_ – already figured out why I'm here alone on Valentine's Day, but what about you? How is it that the Slytherin Sex God is spending the most romantic day of the year in a bar, bickering with a mudblood, instead of out somewhere shagging the daylights out of some poor, innocent, lovesick bimbo?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "So you think I'm a sex god?"

"Ugh," Hermione groaned inwardly. "Get over yourself, Malfoy. And just answer the question."

"Fine," he said. "If you really want to know, I got so many requests to be my valentine, I couldn't possibly choose one. So, I chose none."

"Right. And what stopped you from choosing _all_ of them?"

Draco thought it over for a moment, and then replied, "Well to be honest, most of the girls who wanted me to be their valentine were horrid. Granted, not nearly as horrid as, say, _you_, but still none of them were worth my time."

Hermione ignored his insult. "Then why didn't you just choose Pansy? I'm sure she would have dropped dead with excitement."

"Hmm…well now that you put it that way, I wish I _had_ chosen her."

Absent-mindedly, Hermione giggled. Pansy Parkinson has been in love with Draco Malfoy since their first day at Hogwarts, but he never exactly returned her affections. Hermione couldn't blame him – Pansy was clingy and whiny and pug-faced. Even a low-life such as Draco deserved better than Pansy Parkinson.

Draco smiled what almost appeared to be a sincere smile. "Actually, surprisingly enough, Pansy already had a valentine. Zabini."

"Blaise Zabini?" Hermione laughed. "Talk about a match made in heaven!"

"Yeah," Draco chuckled softly. He took another sip of his butterbeer. He was beginning to feel weird. He looked up at Hermione and noticed that the feeling of repulsion he usually felt whilst looking at the mudblood had dissipated, and was suddenly replaced by…warmth. He began to panic. _What the hell is going on?_ He wondered to himself. This was Granger sitting across from him – the filthy mudblood; one of his worst enemies, and he was having a hard time mustering up disgust. Not knowing what to do, he thought quickly and blurted out, "So I couldn't help but notice that you received nothing by Owl this morning. Big surprise. Krum finally came to his senses, I see?"

Hermione's smile faded. Just when she thought maybe Malfoy was attempting to be civil, he had to go and ruin it. She should have seen it coming. She opened her mouth to retort, but he quickly continued before she could get a word out.

"It must suck for you, Granger. I mean, this day – _the most romantic day of the year_ as you put it – only comes once a year, and once again you are spending it by your lonesome. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why? Surely, you can see what everyone else sees, right?"

A lump began to form in Hermione's throat. She knew where this was heading, but she was suddenly without words. So she just let him continue.

"Take, for instance, Potter and Weasley. They have been your best friends for _seven_ whole years, Granger. You three have spent every waking moment together at Hogwarts. You've been through thick and thin with both of them, yet…neither one has ever looked at you as anything other than a friend, right? Or someone to borrow Potions notes from. But you don't seem surprised in the least. Could it be that you've finally accepted the fact that you're nothing more than a worthless mudblood? Are you finally beginning to see yourself how everyone else sees you? It must be hard, every time Valentine's Day rolls around. It's just a harsh reminder that no one will ever love you."

Hermione tried to blink back her tears. She was _not_ going to give Draco the satisfaction of seeing her cry. But it was too late – a tear had already escaped and traveled down the side of her face. Quickly, she wiped it away and stood up, collecting her things. "And you really think anyone will ever truly love you?" she said softly, putting on her jacket, refusing to look at him. "At least I have friends. At least I have a family who loves me. You don't even have that. Everyone hates you, Malfoy. They may act as though they like you, but really it's only because they're afraid of you. Or, more accurately, they're afraid of your _father_." She stopped and glanced at him. His eyes were wide, and his expression was a mix between shock and anger. She knew she would regret pissing him off, but he deserved it. "Even your own father hates you, Malfoy," she whispered. "So don't talk to me about love. You wouldn't know what it was if it was standing right in front you snogging you senseless."

Draco's mouth dropped. Part of him was impressed with Granger's fearless outburst, but a bigger part of him wanted to jump up and wring her neck. But it was too late to do so…through his shock, he hadn't even noticed that she was already gone. Quickly, he got up from the table to follow her. She couldn't have gotten far, at least he hoped not. He wouldn't let her get away with talking to a Malfoy like that. The girl needed to learn some respect, and he was going to teach her. And he was pretty sure she was not going to like the lesson.

On his way out the door, he bumped into the barmaid who had served their drinks. He didn't even bother to acknowledge her before running out the door. The barmaid just smiled.

"What's that goofy smile for, Geniva?" asked Markus, the bartender.

The barmaid turned around to face him and grinned mischievously.

Once outside of the bar, Draco stopped and glanced around. Hermione was nowhere to be seen. "Granger?" he called out. "GRANGER!" Stupid little mudblood was probably on her way back to Hogwarts right now. It wasn't safe for a young woman to travel alone late at night. Not that he really cared. If she were attacked, she would be getting what she deserved. Stupid mudblood witch. He turned to go back inside the Three Broomsticks, but a sniffling noise made him stop in his tracks. It was coming from the side of the building. Sure enough, Hermione was sitting on the ground, her back leaned up against the side of the building. Crying? Big surprise.

"Granger," Draco said, in a voice that was a little too soft for his liking.

Hermione looked up him through clouded vision. She quickly wiped away her tears and got up. As she quickly brushed past him, she said, "Sod off, Malfoy."

Draco caught her arm. "Not so fast, mudblood."

"Let go of me, ferret!" she screamed, trying with all her might to pull away from him. It was no use.

"No. Not until you apologize."

"Apologize!" she spat. "For what? Defending myself? Sorry, but I really don't think I have anything I need to apologize for."

"Oh, you have plenty of things to apologize for, Granger," Draco growled. "Starting with being born."

Hermione scoffed. "Oh, good one, Draco."

Draco blinked in shock. What did she just call him? "What did you just say?" he demanded.

She must have caught that slip as well, and was doing a lousy job pretending like she didn't notice. "I said 'good one'."

"No," he said, stepping closer to her. "You called me Draco."

Hermione glanced up at his eyes. She could see the hatred burning inside of them. She couldn't help but be a little afraid. But she wouldn't let him see it. "So?" she asked calmly. "It _is_ your name, isn't it?"

He took another step closer to her. "Yes, mudblood, it is my name. But who gave you permission to speak it?"

Hermione snorted. "Merlin, _Draco_," she said, putting an emphasis on his name just to piss him off even more, "it's just a name. Get over it. And while you're at it, get over yourself. You think you're so high and mighty that you cringe at the thought of the little people speaking your precious name? Draco. Draco. Dracodracodracodracodraco-"

"SHUT UP!" he screamed.

"MAKE ME!" she screamed back.

Neither of them could explain what happened next.

Without warning, Draco slammed Hermione up against the side of the building. She had only a moment to let out a slight "Oof!" as the wind was knocked out of her, before suddenly a pair of lips came crashing down on hers…Draco Malfoy's lips.


	2. Chapter Two

**Author's Note #1: Originally, I said that this story was only going to be a two- or three-parter, but I might have lied. It could turn out to be longer than expected. Mainly because I have decided to take this story in a completely different direction than I had originally planned.**

**Author's Note #2: I would just like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the people who took the time to read and review the first chapter. I am overwhelmed by the amount of reviews I received, as I really wasn't expecting too many to begin with. I admit I was a little wary about submitting the story (first-time jitters, I suppose), but you all have been so nice in your reviews that it has really inspired me to keep going with this. :)**

**WARNING: Draco and Hermione may at times seem a bit out of character in this chapter and the ones that follow. But hey, you know…_love potion_. 'Nuff said. ;)**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter (which I DON'T), then I would be a multi-millionaire (which I'm NOT).**

**

* * *

**  
"What's that goofy smile for, Geniva?" asked Markus, the bartender.

The barmaid turned around to face him and grinned mischievously.

"Oh no," Markus groaned. "Please tell me you didn't spike those kids' drinks."

Geniva giggled. "So what if I did?"

"Geniva! It's just wrong! Love potions are immoral."

"Oh please, Markus. You know my love potion is different. It only works if there is already some love there to begin with."

"Still…" he mumbled.

"Look," she said, leaning over the counter. She placed a hand gently on the bartender's arm. "You and I have both seen those two kids bickering every time they are in here. But I have always sensed that maybe there is something else there. Can you honestly say you've never noticed the sexual tension between them? It radiates off them."

Markus looked at her incredulously. Geniva had a knack for reading people, and seeing things that other people couldn't. "But Geniva, potions can sometimes have crazy side effects. What if-"

"No _what-if_s, Markus. The potion is foolproof. If there is nothing between them besides loathing, then they are just walking home right now, arguing the entire way, as usual. But if there's more there…" she smiled, and then said, "Well then let's just say, it will be a Valentine's Day they won't soon forget."

* * *

To passersby, the tall silver-haired boy and the petite bushy-haired girl appeared to be a couple very much in love, and very much in need of getting a room. 

However…

The exact moment Hermione Granger finally realized that Draco Malfoy was kissing her, she gasped in horror and shoved him off of her. _That_, she thought to herself,_ was the worst two minutes of my life._ Not that she had counted the minutes. She had been too busy kissing the ferret back…running her hands through his silky blonde hair…pressing her tongue lightly against his…making little whimpering noises…and…She groaned inwardly. _Oh dear, I really hate myself right now._

Draco didn't look like he was doing too much better himself. He was looking paler than usual (_Is that even possible?_ Hermione wondered incredulously), and the expression on his face, while hard to place, definitely contained repulsion.

"What the hell," he spat, "was_ that_?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and smoothing out the front of her blouse. "Why don't you tell _me_, Malfoy. _You're_ the one who just initiated a game of tonsil hockey with me."

"Tonsil _what_?" Draco shook his head in confusion. "I'm fairly certain I didn't get anywhere near your tonsils, Granger. I'm also fairly certain that _you_ are the one who attacked _me._"

Hermione's jaw dropped at his accusation. "And _I'm_ fairly certain that tomorrow I will have a nasty bruise on my back that will prove it was _you_ who threw _me_ up against the side of this building here." She placed her hands on her hips in such a way that clearly said, _so THERE._

"And _I'm_ fairly certain," Draco said without thinking, "that I'm about to do it again."

Sure enough, before Hermione had time to protest (and she would like to think that she _would_ have, given the opportunity), she was once again pressed tightly up against the hard stone wall by none other than Draco Malfoy. _Oh, this is not good. Not good at all._

Hermione winced at the sudden contact of her already-tender back up against the rough wall. Draco noticed this and once again, he spoke without thinking. "Are you all right?"

She looked up into his eyes, surprised by his question. Malfoy was asking if she was all right? It took a few seconds for her brain to register this, as it was not used to associating genuine concern with Draco Malfoy. His own gray eyes bore into hers, and the loathing that was fired up inside them earlier was gone, and was now replaced with something she couldn't quite put a finger on. Finally, she nodded. "Yeah," she said softly. "I'm okay."

"Okay," he whispered. He brought his hand up and gently brushed it against the side of her cheek. Hermione shuddered as it sent chills down her spine. Okay, whatever was happening, she didn't like it. Well, actually, she _did_ like it, but that was the precise reason why she _didn't_ like it. Her arch nemesis (for lack of a better term) had her pinned up against a wall, and he was looking like he was going to kiss her again at any moment, and she was actually hoping he would. _I have to stop this,_ she thought to herself in a panic. _I cannot allow this to happen again._

Draco was apparently having the exact same thoughts, because with lightening speed, he pushed himself away from her and backed up a few steps. "Damn you, Granger. You little witch. What have you done to me?"

"I should be asking _you_ the same question, you manipulative little -"

"I would watch what you call me, you silly little mudblood."

"Ugh! You disgusting, evil -"

"I'm warning you, Granger."

"You foul, insufferable -"

"Granger."

"WHAT!"

"You're really pretty when you're angry."

Hmm. She wasn't expecting that. Before she could stop herself, she blushed, and she automatically forgot the next set of undesirable adjectives she'd been prepared to throw at him.

Draco wasn't expecting it either. _Why the hell did I just say that? _He mentally slapped himself in the head, and suddenly wished he had never been born.

A very long and awkward silence followed. Finally, Draco broke the ice: "I feel weird. Do you feel weird?"

Hermione nodded. "I feel _very_ weird."

"Weird," Draco mumbled. Staring down at the ground.

"Yeah," agreed Hermione, who took a sudden interest in the night sky, the grass, the window on the side of the pub, her fingernails – really, anything that would prevent her from looking at the tall, devilishly handsome bloke that stood just a couple of feet away from her.

Draco cleared his throat. _Say something insulting to her,_ he commanded to himself. When the words refused to come out, he gave up and mumbled, "Well, see ya." He turned and began to walk away.

"Wait, Malfoy!" Hermione called after him, even though she'd really had no intention to.

Draco stopped. He turned back around to face her.

"Draco," she said softly, as she hesitantly approached him. She was beginning to realize that she had no control over her actions. At least, that's what she was trying to tell herself as she lifted herself ever so slightly from the ground and kissed him softly on the lips.

This kiss was different than the first. There was no slamming against walls…no biting…no groping. No, this kiss was more tender. It was slow and cautious…gentle and sweet. Hermione couldn't help but notice how surprisingly soft Draco's lips were and how warm his touch was, and Draco couldn't help but notice that he was kissing a mudblood and liking it.

"Malfoy," Hermione murmured against his lips.

"Shut up, Granger," he murmured back as he deepened the kiss.

They stood there snogging for what seemed like hours (though Hermione calculated it was probably more like minutes), and neither of them seemed to want to part from the other.

When the kiss finally ended, she pulled away from Draco slightly. They were both short of breath, and Draco looked about as flushed as Hermione felt. She could feel his heart beating in his chest, and its accelerated rhythm perfectly matched hers. So this is what it felt like to be in love.

_Whoa. Wait…what? I'm in love with Draco Malfoy?_

"HERMIONE!"

Snapping out of her trance, Hermione glanced over in the direction of the irritated voice that just called out her name. What she saw made her heart swell with joy.

Harry and Ron stood just a few feet away, both with expressions filled with shock, disgust, anger, and some more shock. Completely oblivious to their reactions, she gave them a huge smile and grabbed Draco's hand. She couldn't wait to tell her two best friends in the whole world the good news that she had suddenly and inexplicably fallen in love with Draco Malfoy.

She just knew they would be so happy for her.

* * *

**Author's Note #3: Sorry this chapter was shorter than the last one. I have already experienced my first bout of writer's block, after only one chapter! Yay! So if this chapter was less enjoyable than the last one, that is why. :)**


	3. Chapter Three

**Author's Note: Thanks again to everyone for all of the reviews! Both Caliko and justafan had some very good suggestions as to what I should have happen in this chapter, and they were fairly similar to what I had already had in mind. However, their suggestions did help me along a bit, so thank you! Also, thank you to Muses' Advocate for your review – it's really nice to know that a non-Hermione/Draco shipper is actually reading this story. :) And to answer your question – yes, this really is my first stab at this. ;)**

* * *

Ronald Weasley's face had turned three different shades of red, one light shade of purple, and an attractive shade of blue before he finally realized he had stopped breathing. This realization then resulted in him taking one big breath before sputtering, "HermionewhatareyoudoingwhythebloodyhellareyoukissingMalfoyareyouinsane!" 

Not understanding a word he had said, Hermione just blinked and shifted her gaze to Harry, who stood perfectly still, looking as though he had just been petrified.

Well, this certainly wasn't what she had expected.

"Hermione," Harry croaked. "Bloody hell…kissing…ferret…what…why…"

Draco, clearly amused, tilted his head and stared at Harry. "You certainly do have a way with words, Potter."

Harry blinked as though Draco's words had pulled him out of his daze. He glared at the blonde boy in front of him. "What the hell have you done to her?" he demanded.

Draco grinned. "Nothing." He glanced at Hermione and winked. "_Yet._"

At his words, Hermione blushed, and Ron lunged himself at Draco, but was quickly pulled away by Harry. "Ron, we can't kill him until after he tells us what he's done to Mione."

"He hasn't done _anything_ to me!" Hermione said, shaking her head.

Draco nodded in agreement, casually slipping an arm around her waist. "She's right, I haven't. I would _never_ do anything to hurt Hermione," he said sincerely.

Hearing Draco speak so sweetly about Hermione, and seeing him willingly touch her was enough to convince Harry that this was all just a bad dream. _Malfoy would never be nice to a "mudblood". Never. So yeah. That's what this is. A nightmare. _Harry glanced down at himself, half-expecting to see that he was naked, making this horrifying nightmare complete. But he was still fully clothed. And deep down, he knew this was no nightmare. At least, not in the literal sense.

"Harry. Ron. Draco and I…we…" Hermione glanced up at Draco and smiled. "We're in love, apparently."

"YOU'RE IN WHAT?" yelled Ron. He was turning purple again. "HERMIONEYOUHAVEGONECOMPLETELYMADTHISISMALFOYWEARETALKINGABOUTHERE!"

"Cripes, Weasley," Draco drawled. "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with _me_? What is wrong with ME? I want to know what is wrong with Hermione! I want to know why she was willingly kissing you, and I want to know why you have your arm around her right now!"

"Are you hard of hearing, you stupid git? Hermione has already told you that she and I are in love. Does that answer your questions?"

Ron opened his mouth to yell some more, but Harry grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the two lovebirds. Once they were out of earshot of Hermione and Draco, Harry whispered, "Something is terribly wrong."

"Gee, you _think_?" Ron rolled his eyes.

"We need to do something," Harry continued. "Malfoy has obviously put some sort of sick love spell on Hermione. I don't know what kind of game he thinks he is playing, but we have to end it. Right now."

Ron nodded. "Sounds like a bloody wonderful idea, Harry. But how do you suppose we do that? Mione is practically attached to him right now." He glanced over to see his best friend once again making out with his worst enemy. He was suddenly overcome with a wave of nausea.

Harry was looking slightly ill himself. "We'll have to use magic."

"Use magic? On Hermione?" Ron narrowed his eyes. "She would never forgive us."

"Oh please, Ron. Once she realizes what Malfoy has done to her, the fact that we used magic on her will be the _least_ of her worries."

"This is true." Ron sighed. He pulled out his wand, knowing what they were going to have to do. "You take Hermione. Leave the ferret to me."

Harry nodded. They walked back over to Hermione and Draco, who now seemed to be whispering sweet nothings to each other. Draco apparently said something funny, because Hermione was giggling like a schoolgirl. A strange feeling came over Harry as he watched her. He had never seen her this happy before, and she was absolutely glowing. For a brief moment, he felt bad about what he and Ron were about to do. But only for a brief moment. _This is for her own good_, he assured himself.

Hermione glanced up at her best friends with a huge grin. "I know this is a shock for you guys. But…you _are_ happy for me…right?"

She sounded so hopeful. So hopeful, that Harry had to force himself to lie. "Yes, Mione. We're thrilled for you."

Hermione squealed with delight. She tore herself away from Draco and threw her arms around Harry. Over her shoulder, he nodded over to Ron. Ron took this as a signal, and gave Harry a slight nod back. While Hermione was distracted, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Draco. "Stupefy!"

Draco didn't even know what hit him. As he crumpled to the ground, unconscious, Hermione gasped and she pushed away from Harry. "Draco!" she cried. She rushed over and knelt down beside him. She glared up at Ron. "Ronald Weasley! Why the hell did you do that?"

"I had to, Hermione" was his only answer.

Tears began to form in her eyes. So they_ weren't_ happy for her after all! Apparently, it was quite the opposite. "No, you didn't _have_ to, Ron." She glanced over at Harry for support, and was shocked to see that he was pointing his wand directly at her. Her eyes widened in shock.

"Forgive me, Hermione," he whispered. He closed his eyes and yelled, "Stupefy!" When he opened them back up, he saw his best friend lying unconsciously on the ground next to Malfoy. "This should buy us some time," he mumbled.

"So what are we going to do now?" Ron asked.

Harry walked over to Hermione's body and gently picked her up in his arms. "We're going back to Hogwarts. I'll bring Hermione to the common room. You bring Malfoy and drop him off in front of Slytherin's common room. And tomorrow we will go to Dumbledore, and hopefully he'll be able to help us."

Ron gave Harry an incredulous look. "You expect me to carry that git all the way back to school?"

Harry shook his head. "You'll have to levitate him back, and pray that no one sees you."

"Oh yeah? And what if somebody does?"

"I dunno…" Harry thought for a few seconds. "If you get caught by someone, just tell them that you encountered Malfoy passed out drunk in Hogsmeade. They'll believe that. Just tell them that you wanted to ensure that he made it back to school safely."

"And you think they will believe _that_?" Ron said with a snicker.

"They'll have to," Harry said. He glanced down at the unconscious girl in his arms. "Don't worry Hermione. We'll find out what that prat did to you, and we will make him pay. I promise."

* * *

Hermione moaned as she began to wake up from her dreamless sleep. A hand gently placed itself over hers, and she smiled. "Draco?" 

Slowly, she opened her eyes, expecting to see the sexy Slytherin hunk hovered over her. Instead, she saw…Harry. "Oh," she mumbled, not bothering to hide her disappointment. "It's _you._"

Harry decided not to take offense. "Yes, Hermione. It's me."

"Harry, what's going on?" Carefully, she lifted herself up. She looked around and realized she was in the Gryffindor common room, and Harry had placed her on the couch. "Where's Draco? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Harry assured her. "Hermione, I need you to listen to me. I think Malfoy has cast some sort of love spell on you."

"Why would he do that?" Hermione asked, genuinely perplexed. "I _already_ love him"

Harry shook his head. He was getting a headache. "No, Hermione. You only _think_ you love him because of the spell."

"What spell? Harry, I don't understand."

_This is going to be a long evening_, Harry thought to himself. Luckily, Ron chose this particular time to enter the portrait hole. "Ron, thank God you're here. I trust you disposed of Malfoy properly?"

"No, Harry, I didn't bury him alive. I just dropped him off in front of the Slytherin common room, like you told me to." He grinned at his own joke, much to Hermione's chagrin.

"Did anyone catch you?" Harry asked.

"Thankfully, no. When we arrived at the common room, I just sort of dropped him onto the floor. I'm sure either Crabbe or Goyle has found him by now. Or maybe even Parkinson -"

"Well," Hermione said suddenly, getting up. "It has been real fun chatting with the both of you. But if you will please excuse me, I'm going to go make sure Draco is okay."

Harry jumped up and stepped in front of Hermione, to prevent her from going any furthur. "I'm sorry, Mione, but we can't let you see Malfoy. Not until we get this whole mess straightened out."

Hermione gaped at him. "You're all mad! You can't expect to keep me here all night! You two will have to go to sleep eventually."

"She's right, Harry," Ron admitted.

"Not if we sleep in shifts," Harry said smugly.

"Oh, good idea!" said Ron.

"No!" cried Hermione. "Bad idea! I thought you guys were my friends!"

"We _are_ your friends, Hermione," Harry said with a sigh. "That is why you just have to trust us when we tell you that you need to stay away from Malfoy. Trust me, when this is all over, you will be thanking us."

"Yeah, what he said," chimed in Ron. "Besides, I just left Malfoy a few minutes ago, and he was still sleeping like a baby, so going to see him would be pretty pointless. He's most likely knocked out for the rest of the evening."

Hermione frowned. This was so unfair.

"Okay," Harry said to Ron, "who wants to take the first watch?"

"I will," Ron volunteered. "I'm not all that tired anymore. I just know that if I close my eyes, all I will see are horrible visions of Hermione making out with a ferret."

"Hey!" Hermione cried out defensively. "You two don't need to baby-sit me, you know. You keep telling me to trust _you._ Why won't you trust _me_?"

"Because people under spells can't be trusted, Mione." Harry leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead. "We will get this all straightened out tomorrow, and we will get you back to normal."

Hermione was about to deny for the one-hundredth time that she was under any sort of spell, but figured she might as well save her breath. She knew he wouldn't believe her, anyway.

She flopped down on the couch after Harry left. Ron was staring at her from across the room, arms folded over his chest.

"You might as well go to bed too, Mione. Get your beauty rest."

Hermione glared at him. "Sod off, Ron. I'm not tired either." She grabbed some random book off the table in front of her and pretended to read it.

Ten minutes later, Ron was still watching her. _I need to get out of here_, she thought. She quickly tried to come up with a viable excuse to warrant wandering the halls late at night. _I'll just tell him I left a very important book in the library._ She knew that excuse wouldn't work, but she was more than willing to try it anyway. So, she stood up from the couch and began towards the portrait hole.

"Well, I'm just going to -"

"No, you're not," Ron said simply.

"But I have to -"

"No, you don't."

"Ronald Weasley!" she cried, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "Why are you doing this to me? I finally find someone to love, who loves me back, and you are trying to take that away from me!"

"Hermione," Ron said softly, "you are _not_ in love with Malfoy. And he is_ not_ in love with you."

"You don't have any idea what you are talking about, Ron. No idea whatsoever." She shook her head sadly. She decided she would give up trying to argue her case. She was tired after all, and she just wanted to get this night over with so that she could see Draco bright and early in the morning. She brushed past Ron, but then suddenly stopped and added, "I have never felt this happy before in my life, Ron. Never."

Ron frowned as he watched Hermione disappear from the common room. He and Harry had been so quick to assume that Malfoy had hexed Hermione, that he had never stopped and wondered…what if this _wasn't_ some sort of a spell? What if their best friend had really fallen for the enemy? He shook his head in denial. No way. It would never happen. Malfoy is the scum of the earth, and Hermione knows it. And if she has forgotten, well then Harry and Ron were just going to have to remind her. They were _not_ going to lose her to Draco Malfoy.

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**A/N: Hm…I know that this chapter didn't have too much of a Hermione/Draco thing going on, but I promise the next chapter will!**


	4. Chapter Four

**Author's Note (because I just cannot seem to post a chapter without one): So yay…I am sick with a cold right now, so half of this chapter was written under the influence of Aspirin, Sudafed and ginger ale. So in other words, I cannot _possibly_ be held responsible for any mistakes or poor writing that occurs in this chapter. Um…yeah. So that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :P**

**Thanks once again for the reviews! And in response to HogwartzBoizRHottiez's question: you will have your answer by the end of the story. ;)**

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"Bloody hell."

Draco Malfoy woke up the next morning on the hard cement floor outside of the Slytherin common room. Apparently, Ron's theory of him being found by Crabbe, Goyle, or Pansy (or anyone else, for that matter), was highly inaccurate. He was surprised that not even a prefect had stumbled upon him. Actually, it was more likely that one _had_, but had decided not to wake him, figuring he _deserved_ to remain passed out on the cold, hard floor. Slowly, he stood up. His whole body was aching, but that pain paled in comparison to what Potter and Weasley would be feeling by the end of the day.

Hermione. The thought of Scarface and Weasel suddenly reminded him of their best friend, the mud…the mudbl…the mu…_the most beautiful girl in the world_. He smiled absent-mindedly as the memories of last night came flooding back. It was weird. At this time yesterday morning, Hermione wasn't even in his thoughts. And even the few times he had seen her during the day, he'd felt nothing but loathing and disgust. But now…now, she was all he could think about, and he couldn't wait to see her again. He thought of heading straight to the Gryffindor common room immediately, but figured he should probably get ready for classes first.

"Venom," he mumbled the password to the portrait in front of him; the goofy smile still playing at his lips. But that smile faded quickly as soon as he stepped through the portrait hole, and was attacked by a big, blonde pug dog. Or, more accurately, Pansy Parkinson.

"Drakie! Where have you been? Ohmygod I have been _soooo_ worried about you!" She threw her arms around him in a huge bear hug.

"Pansy, leave the poor boy alone," Blaise Zabini said, grabbing the back of Pansy's robes and tugging at them gently until he had pried her off of Draco. "I'm sure he has a perfectly good excuse for not gracing us with his presence last night. Like…maybe…he was shacked up with some random hot chick he met in Hogsmeade last night?"

Pansy's face fell. "Random hot chick? No way. He wouldn't. Right Drakie? You weren't with some whore last night, were you?"

"No," Draco said with a grin. His expression became dreamy. "I was with the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Humph!" Pansy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Blaise's eyes lit up. He ignored a seething Pansy and patted Draco on the back. "Tell me all about her. What does she look like? Is she a good kisser? Did you two…you know…"

Draco dropped down on the couch. "Well…she is absolutely beautiful. She's got the most amazing brown eyes – you could get lost in them. And her hair…she's got the most luscious brown locks. A bit unruly, but it just makes it so much sexier, you know? And…she's smart. Really smart. Sort of bookwormish. But I actually find that to be attractive, you know? She's like one of those sexually repressed librarians who's just waiting to let her hair down and go wild. And yes…she is a bloody amazing kisser." His smile widened at the sudden memory of having Hermione pressed up against the side of the Three Broomsticks. "But we didn't get to take it any further. Her two stupid best friends came along and put a stop to it by stupefying me. Can you believe the nerve of them? I didn't think it was even humanly possible, but I honestly think I hate them even more now than I did before last night."

Blaise, who sat across from Draco, was staring at his best friend as though he had gone completely daft. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you had just described the mudblood Granger."

Draco's smile wavered slightly. "Don't _ever_ call her a mudblood again, you ignorant prat."

Pansy cried out in horror. Her Drakiepooh had just defended the mudblood! And his description had matched Granger perfectly. She grabbed onto the side of the couch for support. This could not be happening.

The color had drained from Blaise's face. "You cannot be serious. You did _not_ just describe Granger."

"Oh, I did."

"Are you bloody insane?" Blaise exclaimed.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh please. You sound just like Potter and Weasley. Why can't everyone just accept the fact that I'm in love with Hermione Granger?"

Nobody even noticed when Pansy passed out cold on the floor in front of them.

Blaise leaned over and studied Draco carefully. After a few seconds, he smiled wickedly and said, "Ah, I get it. This is some sort of trick, isn't it? You're playing the mudblood. Making her think you're in love with her so that you can then turn around and break her poor Muggle heart in front of the whole school. Right?" He chuckled. "Oh, this is classic. But don't feel like you have to hide this from us, Draco. I'm your best friend. I promise I won't tell anyone. I won't ruin her surprise for you."

Draco frowned at the use of the word "mudblood" again, but he let it slide. He shook his head. "I'm not playing anyone, Zabini. Hermione is…" His voice trailed off as though he were searching for the best words to describe her. "She's everything."

Blaise snorted. "You're right. She's everything: she's a know-it-all bookworm. She's a mudblood. She's a bitch. She's probably a little whore, too -"

Before he knew what was happening, Blaise suddenly found himself thrown up against the wall with Draco's hand clutching at his throat.

"If you ever…_EVER_…speak about Hermione that way again," Draco hissed, "I will kill you in your sleep." He let go of Blaise's robes and stepped back. He shrugged slightly, almost acting as if his little outburst hadn't just taken place. "I'm going to go shower and get ready for breakfast. I'll meet you guys in the Great Hall." With that, he left the room, leaving Blaise staring after him in bewilderment.

"Damn, Pansy, that bloke needs help."

When he received no response, he glanced over to the couch and saw Pansy lying on the floor next to it, still unconscious. Not concerned in the least, Blaise just stepped over her body and headed down for breakfast.

* * *

"Draco…_Malfoy_?" Ginny Weasely emphasized on the word "Malfoy". Surely when Hermione had just told her she was in love with Draco, she was talking about a _different_ Draco. Surely she couldn't have meant the boy who had tormented her for nearly seven years.

Hermione grinned from ear to ear. "Yes! Isn't it fantastic?"

"Erm…" Ginny tried her best to fake a smile. "Yes, Mione. That's wonderful. I'm so…happy for you?"

"Seriously?" Hermione asked with a gasp. When Ginny nodded, Hermione lunged forward and threw her arms around her. "I'm so glad at least _somebody_ approves. Harry and Ron have been so rotten about this. Would you believe that they actually took shifts guarding me last night, to make sure I didn't leave the premises to go look for Draco? Unbelievable, those two."

_I don't blame them,_ Ginny thought to herself, but said, "Well, you know how boys are. They're just…protective of you, Hermione."

Hermione sighed. "I know, Ginny. But I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself. I don't need them to protect me. Especially from Draco. Draco's really just a big teddy bear."

Ginny stifled a giggle. She was pretty sure that Hermione was the only person in the entire world who had ever compared Draco Malfoy to a teddy bear. _Well, maybe if the teddy bear was possessed by the spirit of an arrogant, callous git…_

Hermione glanced around the common room. "So where are my bodyguards, anyway?"

"We're right here, at your service." Ron said in a cheerful voice as he entered the common room. Harry was following close behind.

Hermione groaned. "Oh. I was hoping you guys had already left."

"We love you too, Mione." Harry gave her a playful pat on the back. "So how are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm feeling fine," she snapped. "No thanks to you guys."

"You're not still…you know…" Ron's voice trailed off.

"You're not still in love with the ferret, are you?" Harry finished for him.

Hermione threw up her hands in exasperation. "I refuse to talk about this with you guys!"

"Fine, fine," Ron mumbled. He exchanged a glance with Harry, but Hermione ignored it. She pushed past them and headed for the portrait hole.

The minute it opened up, she was greeted with the most glorious site: Draco Malfoy.

"Draco!" she exclaimed. She threw herself at him and pulled him into a great big hug.

"Guess that answers our question," Harry muttered.

Draco was grinning from ear to ear. He pulled away from her and held her out at arm's length, looking her up and down. "Wow," he whispered. "You look beautiful today."

Hermione blushed and glanced down at herself. "Thank you. But…I don't look any different than any other day."

Draco smiled. "I know."

Ron turned a pale shade of green and said loudly to Harry, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Draco ignored his remark. He reached inside his robes and pulled out two objects. One was a single red rose; the other, a piece of paper. He handed her the rose.

Hermione gasped with delight. Nobody had ever given her flowers before. Well, anyone besides family members. She took it in her hands gingerly. _I'm keeping this forever._

"I, um…I wrote you a poem," he said shyly.

Ron couldn't help but snort. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs. Draco glared at him, before turning back sweetly to Hermione. "Would you like to hear it?"

Hermione's jaw practically hit the floor. First a rose, and now a love poem? She could get used to this kind of attention. "Yes! Yes, of course I want to hear it!"

"Okay." Draco cleared his throat as he unfolded the piece of paper in his hand.

"Oh, this is going to be good," Ron whispered to Harry.

"I call this poem 'Loving You': _Loving you is easy because you're beautiful. Making love with you is all I want to do. And every time that we -"_

Mortified, Ron quickly jumped in front of Hermione. "All right Malfoy, that is quite enough!"

Harry, meanwhile, was shaking his head in disbelief. "You didn't write that poem, Malfoy. Those are lyrics to a cheesy Muggle love song."

Draco shot an icy glare towards Harry. "Cripes, Potter. What the hell is your point? It still perfectly conveys my feelings for Hermione. Who are you to judge?"

"Really, Harry," said Hermione. "Stop being such a jerk." She turned back to Draco. "I thought it was lovely."

It was Draco's turn to blush. "Thank you." He took her hand. "Shall I escort you to the Great Hall?"

"I would love that," Hermione replied with a smile.

"Actually," Ron piped up, "_we_ were going to -"

"Sod off, Ronald," Hermione called over her shoulder. And then, she disappeared through the portrait hole. With _Malfoy._

Ron was seething. "We have to do something, Harry."

"I know, Ron. We'll go talk to Dumbledore as soon as possible."

"I actually think they are kind of sweet together," Ginny said dreamily.

"We didn't ask for your opinion, Ginny," Ron snarled.

"And _Hermione_ didn't ask for _yours,_" Ginny snarled back. "Perhaps you two should be a little more careful with this situation. You could end up losing her as a friend, you know."

"Don't be so naïve, Gin. After Hermione finds out that she's been hexed by Draco Malfoy, she will be thanking us and _begging_ for our forgiveness."

Ginny snorted. "Yeah, right. It appears as though _I'm_ not the only one who's being naïve."

* * *

This morning's walk to the Great Hall was possibly the best walk to the Great Hall that anyone at Hogwarts had ever experienced.

At least, in Hermione's opinion.

"I thought about you all night," she said softly to the boy walking beside her. "I was so worried about you."

Draco frowned. "Damn those friends of yours. Why you bother to put up with them is beyond me."

Hermione shrugged. "They're just concerned, that's all. They think…well, it's funny, but they think that you've put some sort of spell on me."

Draco looked at her incredulously. "Why would I do such a thing?"

"I know! That's exactly what I said to Harry and Ron! But they're convinced that we're not really in love."

Draco chuckled. "That's crazy talk. Of course we're in love!"

Hermione nodded. "I mean…granted…it's a little weird. It seems like just yesterday I couldn't stand you and now…" She looked at him. "Now I can't stand to be _away_ from you."

Draco squeezed her hand. "I know how you feel. I can't stop thinking about you. And I can't stop thinking about last night. I mean, most of it's a blur, really. But I do remember the kiss."

"Mm, me too." Hermione smiled at the memory. But her smile quickly faded as they reached the entrance to the Great Hall. Most of the students were already there, and Hermione couldn't help but notice quite a few Gryffindors and Slytherins glanced up upon their arrival – and none of them looked too pleased.

"Well, I guess this is where we bid adieu," Hermione said sadly.

"For now." Draco quickly let go of her hand. He took a few steps forward, then stopped. "Hey," he said, turning around. "Why don't you meet me in the Astronomy Tower tonight? It will give us some alone time without our friends there to hassle us."

Hermione grinned. "Sounds bloody wonderful. How about after the feast?"

"After the feast it is, then." He returned her grin before entering the Hall. She entered soon after, and they both went their separate ways.

She was already counting the hours until their secret rendezvous tonight. Now her only problem would be escaping from her two best friends…

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A/N: The "poem" Draco wrote for Hermione really _is_ lyrics from a cheesy Muggle song. It's called "Loving You" by Minnie Ripperton. Actually, it's a very lovely song. :) 


	5. Chapter Five

**Author's Note: I have nothing much to say, really. I just need to have an author's note no matter what.**

**Disclaimer: All I own is this silly little fan fic that pales in comparison to the real Harry Potter series. So, uh, don't sue.**

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For the first time in her life, Hermione failed to pay attention in any of her classes.

For instance, in Potions, she _appeared_ to be listening intently to Professor Snape as he droned on and on about…eh…whatever it was he was droning on and on about. To anyone who might have happened to steal a glance at her, they would have assumed that she was furiously scribbling down his every word, in fear that he might spring a pop quiz on them spur-of-the-moment. However, had anyone actually glanced at the parchment that lie on the desk in front of her, what they would have seen instead of Potions notes would have made them shudder.

Apparently (Hermione had found out during this very class) there are many different ways to combine her name with Draco Malfoy's. _Hermione Malfoy. Hermione Jane Malfoy. Hermione Granger-Malfoy. Hermione Jane Granger-Malfoy. Mrs. Draco Malfoy. Mrs. Hermione Jane Granger-Malfoy. _Really, the possibilities were endless, and she had managed to scrawl nearly every single combination down on paper, complete with hearts everywhere, big _and_ small. Luckily for her, she was sitting by neither Harry nor Ron, but some Gryffindor girl she had never bothered to get to know. This unidentified girl did glance over at Hermione's notes a couple of times with a strange expression, but that was all. Had Harry or Ron seen what she had been spending all of Potions class doing, they most likely would have stupefied her again.

Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Hermione turned around in her chair and glanced around, sincerely hoping those eyes didn't belong to either of her two best friends. It wasn't long before she realized who _was_ staring at her so intently, and she practically sighed in relief: Draco. _Hi_, she mouthed to him, her lips then forming into a pleasant smile.

Draco slowly grinned and nodded in response. He glanced up at Snape, whose back was turned to the class as he walked back up toward his desk, still talking about some kind of potion or whatever. Draco held up a folded piece of paper and winked at her. He then lowered it to the ground and proceeded to levitate it just low enough so that it didn't register on anybody's radar. When it gently landed on the floor next to her desk, Hermione took a quick glance around the room to make sure no one was paying attention, and then leaned over quickly and picked it up.

The girl-with-no-name beside her gave her a funny look again as she proceeded to carefully unfold the paper. Hermione shot her a glare that clearly said, _mind your own business, nosy bitch._ The girl just rolled her eyes and went back to intently concentrating on Snape's lesson.

Hermione felt a blush creeping up to her cheeks when she read Draco's words: _You know, you are the most beautiful girl in this class._

She smiled and wrote back: _Oh really? More beautiful than Pansy Parkinson? _She levitated the note back to him.

Draco snorted when he read it, eliciting a look from Professor Snape. Hermione held her breath, waiting for the vile teacher to reprimand Draco, but of course he just ignored it and went on talking. Professor Snape had always had a soft spot for Draco Malfoy, and he hated to take points away from his own house unless he absolutely had to. Draco looked at Hermione in relief before proceeding to scrawling something in response and once again levitating it back to her.

_I said you were the most beautiful **girl** – I said nothing about pugs. _Hermione couldn't help but giggle. Snape spun around again and glared at her.

"Did I say something amusing, Miss Granger?" he drawled.

Hermione's smile faded. "N-no, Professor, I just -"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for Miss Granger's disruption of class." Snape didn't even try to hide his smirk as every Gryffindor in the class groaned.

Hermione was crestfallen. "But Professor -"

"And another ten points for attempting to argue with my decision."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest once more, but both Harry and Ron shot her looks that clearly told her to shut up. She glanced over at Draco, who gave her a sympathetic glance, mixed with some guilt. Hermione almost didn't recognize that expression on Draco, as he had _never_ looked sympathetic once in his whole life. But his expression quickly vanished and was replaced by a sincere, almost flirtatious smile. Hermione couldn't help it – she blushed furiously again and returned the smile.

Unbeknownst to them, Snape had watched their silent interaction with great disdain, and was relieved when the bell rang a few seconds later. "Class dismissed."

As everyone stood up and started packing their books into their bags, Snape added, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasel – please remain seated. The rest of you may go."

Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances, and then glanced up at Hermione, who wanted nothing more than to go catch up with Draco. Sadly though, he was quickly whisked away by Blaise Zabini, and disappeared out of sight before she could even wave goodbye.

Hermione frowned. "I'm going to go see if I can find Ginny," she said to Harry and Ron. "I'll meet you guys in the common room." Both Harry and Ron eyed her suspiciously, but nodded. They really had no choice but to let her go.

She smiled to herself. She was actually very anxious to talk to Ginny, figuring that she would probably help Hermione come up with a plan to help sneak her out of the feast tonight. With a small wave she turned to leave. When she was finally gone, the boys simultaneously turned to Snape with fearful looks in their eyes.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley," Snap said, "would you be so kind as to fill me in to what is going on between Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh. That." He glanced at Ron. "Well, we aren't really sure, sir. All we know is that at this time yesterday, they still loathed each other. But when we found them outside of the Three Broomsticks last night, they couldn't keep their hands off each other."

Ron nodded in agreement. "We think Malfoy has put some sort of a love spell on Hermione, Professor."

Snape sat back in his chair and looked at the two boys as if he thought they were crazy. "And why would Mr. Malfoy do such a thing?"

Harry shrugged. "We don't know, sir. Perhaps…perhaps it's some sort of twisted plan to make Hermione fall in love with him so that he could humiliate her in front of the entire school. Who knows why Malfoy does the things he does?"

"Hmm." Snape furrowed his brow and appeared to be deep in thought. After a few moments of awkward silence, he said, "And what makes you think it was Mr. Malfoy who hexed Miss Granger? Could it not have been the other way around?"

"No way!" Ron exclaimed. Realizing he had spoken too loudly, he lowered his voice and said, "Er, I mean, I don't believe so, sir. Hermione hates Malfoy more than anything. There would be absolutely no reason for her to put a _love_ spell on him."

"Ron's right," Harry said. He stopped for a second, thinking. "Actually, when you think about it, it really makes no sense either way. Sure, Malfoy could have hexed Hermione in order to humiliate her…but wouldn't he humiliate her more if he just ignored her advances? Why would he risk his reputation by playing along like he is?"

Snape gently massaged his temples. He never in a million years would have thought he would be talking to Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley about a romantic relationship between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger. This apparently wasn't good for his health, as he was feeling a migraine coming on. "Well," he said finally. "I think that whatever is going on between them is being caused by neither Miss Granger _nor_ Mr. Malfoy, as they both seem to be genuinely affected. Rather, I think there has been a third party involved. Perhaps somebody slipped them a love potion."

Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows. "Third party, sir?" Ron asked quizzically. "Who in their right mind would want to make Hermione and Malfoy fall in love?"

_Hell if I know_, Snape thought bitterly. "I do not know, Mr. Weasley. If I knew, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now. Instead, I would be out trying to find a cure."

Harry felt a sense of relief. "Does this mean you will help us find out what has happened and fix it?"

Snape stood up. "Of course, Mr. Potter. If I have to teach one more class with Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger ogling each other, I may have to take sick leave. Besides," he brushed past Harry and Ron and headed for the classroom door. "I think it would be best for all parties involved if this little _incident_ is taken care of before it is brought to the attention of Lucius Malfoy."

* * *

"You want me to lie to my brother?" Ginny asked with a smirk. 

Hermione shook her head. "Not lie. Just omit the truth."

Ginny giggled. "Why am I agreeing to help you? I shouldn't be helping you, you know. Ron and Harry have every reason to be worried about you. I mean, c'mon Hermione – yesterday, you _loathed_ Draco Malfoy, and now you love him! Doesn't that sound absurd to you?"

Hermione smiled dreamily. "That doesn't sound absurd at all. People fall in love all the time, Ginny. What's so different about me and Draco?"

"You two hate each other's guts!" Ginny screeched. "Remember all of those times he's called you a mudblood? Remember that time you slapped him in third year? Ron said it looked like you were going to kill him. How can your feelings for each other just change magically over night? I mean…er…_without_ magic?"

"I don't expect you to understand, Ginny. I don't expect anyone to understand, really. I mean, _I_ don't completely understand this myself. But…" Her voice trailed off. "I don't know what's happening to me, but I like it. I really, really like it. Just the thought of seeing Draco again makes me want to jump up and down with joy. Whenever I glance over at him and our eyes meet, my heart skips a beat and my breath catches in my throat. I feel like I am going to go crazy if I go another minute without seeing him or touching him. He…he _completes_ me, Ginny."

Ginny knew that she should have been gagging at what Hermione had just revealed, but instead she sighed dreamily. Sure, it was _Draco Malfoy_ they were talking about, but her friend was in love, and Ginny couldn't have been happier for her. She leaned forward and threw her arms around Hermione. "I just want you to know that I support you know matter what, Hermione, and I will do whatever I can to help you tonight."

Hermione's eyes glazed over with happy tears. "Oh, Ginny, you are so full of greatness! It must not run in your family."

Ginny chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it."

* * *

Hermione couldn't help but notice Draco's absence during the feast that night, and her mind was racing with all sorts of theories as to what could have happened to him – anything from receiving a brutal beating from his fellow Slytherins, to being out somewhere snogging some other girl. She sure hoped neither theory was correct. She decided to just shrug it off and try to enjoy the feast. Luckily, Harry and Ron provided a decent distraction when they sat down beside her at the table. 

"Hey, you two!" she exclaimed. "I haven't seen you since Potions. Why did Snape keep you guys after class?"

Harry and Ron glanced at each other, as if trying to come up with a good answer. Finally, Harry said, "He, er, wanted to give us detention."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What? What for?"

"Uh…" Ron said nervously. "For, um, cheating. Yeah, cheating. On the test he gave us last week. He could tell that I copied off of Harry." Ron mentally slapped himself, forgetting that the professors usually cast anti-cheating spells on everyone's quills before they take a test. Luckily, Hermione was too horrified by the word "cheat" that she had seemed to forget that little fact as well.

"You copied off of Harry!" Hermione yelled, acting as if that was the worst crime anyone could ever commit, _ever_. "Ronald Weasley! How could you do something like that? How do you expect to get through life by claiming other people's hard work as your own? You're never going to learn anything that way! And you, Harry! How could you -"

"Right," Ron said, interrupting her. He knew if he didn't interrupt, she would never shut up. "So Harry and I are serving detention tonight."

Hermione stopped lecturing. Harry and Ron couldn't help but notice her face light up a little. "Oh, really? Well…good! You deserve to serve detention for this!"

"So what are your plans tonight, Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione shrugged. "Actually, Ginny and I were planning on having a girl's night out tonight. Or, rather, _in_. We thought we would maybe look up some simple girly spells and perhaps perform makeovers on each other."

Ron snorted. "Sounds bloody terrific." He rolled his eyes at Harry, who just smiled in response. They were both very relieved that Hermione bought their little story.

Hermione, meanwhile, was relieved to find out that Harry and Ron had other plans for the evening. If they were in detention, there would be no chance of them following her to the Astronomy Tower.

At the thought of the Astronomy Tower, Hermione frowned. Draco still hadn't appeared over at the Slytherin table. What if he had forgotten about their little rendezvous tonight? _No_, she assured herself. _He would not forget something like this. After all, it was his idea._ She managed to convince herself that he would show up, but then another thought struck fear in her heart: what exactly were they going to _do_ in the Astronomy Tower? This would be the first time they'd be alone together without anyone interrupting them, which meant that anything could happen. _Only what you _allow_ to happen_, she reminded herself. She wasn't exactly the most experienced girl at Hogwarts (in fact, she was willing to bet she was the _least_ experienced), and the fact that Draco Malfoy wasn't exactly the most _in_experienced boy at Hogwarts (in fact, she was willing to bet he was the _least_ inexperienced) made her slightly nervous.

"Hermione?" Ron waved a hand in front of Hermione's face, trying to get her attention. Hermione quickly snapped back to reality.

"Huh, what Ron?"

"Are you okay, Mione?" Harry asked. "You look anxious."

"Who, me? Anxious? Why would I be anxious? What possible reason would I have to be anxious? Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about. _Anxious._ Ha! Really." Realizing she was blubbering like an idiot, she stood up. "I, um, I'm going to go find Ginny."

Ron looked at her as if she had gone completely bonkers. "Ginny's right there," he said, pointing directly across the table at his younger sister. Ginny gave an innocent smile.

"I know that," she snapped. She turned to Ginny. "Ready to leave?"

"Um…" Ginny hesitated. "Sure. Yeah." She stood up and began to follow Hermione to the Hall's exit.

"Have fun with your _girly_ spells," Ron called after them, a hint of playfulness in his voice.

Once Hermione and Ginny were outside of the Great Hall, Hermione collapsed against the wall. "Have you seen Draco?"

Ginny blinked. "No. But I noticed he wasn't in the Great Hall."

"I noticed too. Oh, Ginny, what if he has changed his mind about us?"

"I'm sure he hasn't," Ginny said reassuringly. "Why don't you just head up to the Astronomy Tower right now? I'll bet he's already up there waiting for you."

Hermione chewed on her lip. "I really hope you're right, Gin."

"Of course I am right!" Ginny laughed. "Now go! Shoo!"

Hermione grinned. "Wish me luck."

"Oh honey, believe me. You won't need it."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, Harry and Ron were feeling very glad that Hermione was gone. 

"You stupid git!" Harry scolded Ron. "You almost blew it with that whole cheating excuse."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But she bought it. That's all that matters."

"So why do you suspect Snape is bringing us to Hogsmeade tonight?"

Ron shrugged. "I have no clue. But he seems to think he knows how to solve this. And if he _does_ solve it, you are going to have to restrain me from giving him a big sloppy kiss of gratitude."

Harry stared at his best friend in horror, and decided it would be best if he just pretended like he hadn't heard that comment come from Ron's mouth. His gaze then shifted over to Professor Snape, who was already glaring back at him. He sighed.

First, Hermione had fallen in love with Malfoy. Now he and Ron were in cahoots with Professor Snape? Harry honestly never thought he'd be alive long enough to ever witness either of those things.

* * *

**Next Up:** Snape gets to the bottom of things in Hogsmeade, and Hermione and Draco get to the top of things in the Astronomy Tower. ;) 


	6. Chapter Six

**Author's Note: Oh, thanks to everyone again for reviewing! It makes me feel all warm inside to read your kind words. You are all very seriously cool! So…this chapter is actually my longest chapter yet. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I had such a hard time writing it, because I SUCK at writing mushy scenes, especially where Draco is concerned (it's hard to make him act like anything other than an irritating git). Hopefully I did okay…**

**Disclaimer: I own the barmaid and the bartender (lucky me). J.K. Rowling owns everyone else (lucky her).**

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The trip to Hogsmeade that night was very awkward. Nobody spoke a word until they had finally arrived in front of the Three Broomsticks.

"So this is where you said you found them last night?" Snape asked his two students.

Harry nodded and pointed to the side of the building. "Yes, right over there. When we found them, they were _kissing_ and -"

Snape's face twisted into a mortified expression. "I do not need details, Potter. In fact, I would appreciate it if you left all of the details out." He shuddered.

Harry nodded. He hated telling the details about as much as Snape hated _hearing_ them.

When the three of them entered the Three Broomsticks - which surprisingly was very dead for this time of night - they were immediately greeted warmly by a young woman carrying a drink tray.

"Good evening, gentlemen." She glanced at Snape and grinned. "Professor Snape! Long time no see! What brings you to the Three Broomsticks tonight?"

"Miss Whittaker," Snape said blandly, acknowledging her with a short nod. "Actually, I came to talk to _you_."

Harry and Ron looked at each other. Who was this woman, why did Snape want to talk to her, and what did she have to do with Hermione and Malfoy?

"Oh," the young woman said, looking perplexed. "Well let me just go set this tray down and ask Markus if I can take a small break. Why don't you all take a seat over there," she said, pointing to a table over in the corner. "Can I get you guys anything?"

"We'll take two butterbeers," Harry replied, ignoring Snape's glare.

"Sure thing." The barmaid winked and disappeared into the back of the pub.

"If you don't mind us asking, sir," Ron said, "why are we here?"

"Patience is a virtue, Mr. Weasley," Snap growled. "You will find out in due time. Now please refrain from talking."

Ron mumbled a few choice words under his breath, but luckily Snape was oblivious to them. Less than a minute later, the barmaid returned with two butterbeers, which she placed in front of Harry and Ron, then she pulled up an empty chair and joined them at the table.

"So what can I do for you?" she asked tentatively.

"Well, I was hoping you could provide us with some information on a love potion. Two of my students -"

"I had nothing to do with that," she said defensively. "I did _not_ spike those kids' drinks, if that's what you're thinking."

Snape narrowed his eyes at her. Both Harry and Ron recognized this expression as contempt. It was an expression he had used many times on them. "Actually, Miss Whittaker, that was_ not_ what I was thinking. But it is now."

Geniva blushed furiously. "I, erm, um…" She looked at Harry and Ron. "Would you boys like some more butterbeer?"

"They haven't even begun drinking the ones you just brought them," Snape barked. "So you're behind this? I should have known the minute these boys mentioned the Three Broomsticks."

Harry and Ron desperately wanted to chime in and ask what this woman had to do with anything, but decided instead to examine their mugs of butterbeer as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

"As I was saying," Snape continued, "two of my students who normally loathe each other more than life itself, have suddenly decided they are madly in love with one another. I assumed someone must have cast some sort of spell on them, or slipped them a love potion. Figuring it was the latter, I thought I would pay you a visit, to see if you could possibly create some sort of an anti-potion. I seem to recall love potions being your forte. And now that I know it was _your_ love potion that has cursed them, this makes it all that much easier."

Geniva blushed a deeper shade of red. "Wow, Professor, I am flattered. I mean…a Potions professor coming to _me_ for help? I don't know what to say!"

Snape sneered at her. "Say you will make us an anti-potion."

Geniva stared at him blankly. "Why would I do that?"

"_WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?_" Snape bellowed. "Because you drugged two of my students against their will! Do you even know what horrible thing you have done? Those two kids you made fall in love – there is a lot more to this situation than just the fact that they hate each other. The boy, Draco Malfoy, is the son of Lucius Malfoy. Does that name ring a bell to you at all?" Geniva shook her head as Snape continued. "Lucius Malfoy is a sick, pureblood son of a bitch who hates everything and every_one_ Muggle. The _girl_ you drugged, Hermione Granger, is about as Muggle as they come. She is what the Malfoys commonly like to call a _mudblood_, Miss Whittaker. Surely you remember that term from your days at Hogwarts?"

Geniva paled slightly and whispered, "Oh." She glanced sheepishly at Harry and Ron, then back at Snape. "I didn't know, honestly. I just…I saw them sitting together last night and I thought they looked so cute together, what with all of their flirtatious bickering. I thought -"

"No, Miss Whittaker," Snape interrupted, "you _didn't_ think, that is the problem. If you _had_, you would have realized that what happens between those two kids is none of your business. Feelings and emotions are not to be meddled with. I can't recall how many times I repeated that fact to you, every time I heard you discussing love potions with your friends."

"I know," Geniva said, nodding. "I know. That is exactly the reason why I came up with a love potion that was different than all others."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Oh really. And what makes your potion different from any other love potion?"

Geniva's face lit up at Snape's curiosity, eager to explain her potion to anyone who would listen. "My love potion doesn't make just _anyone_ fall in love, Professor. It only works for people who are _already_ in love with each other."

"Why would you make a love potion for people who are already in love?" Ron butted in, scratching his head in confusion. Really, it made no sense to him.

"Well, you see," Geniva explained, "people fall madly in love with each other all the time. But in a lot of cases, over time, the intensity of that initial love sort of dissipates. The two people still love each other, but that _spark_ is gone. My potion ignites that spark. In other words, my potion only _enhances_ existing feelings…not _invents _them. As you can imagine, it is wildly popular with old married couples, wishing to rekindle their romance."

Snape acted like he hadn't heard a word she had said. "So how soon can you make the anti-potion?"

Geniva gaped at him. "Didn't you just hear a word I said? You are telling me that my potion worked on those two kids, which means that they already had feelings for each other before I spiked their drinks. And you just want to take those feelings away from them?"

"YES!" Harry and Ron cried out simultaneously.

The young barmaid stared at them. "And who are you two, exactly?"

"We are Hermione's best friends," Harry replied.

Geniva shook her head sadly. "You call yourselves her best friends, yet you want to take away her happiness and bliss? That doesn't sound like something best friends do."

"Maybe not," said Ron. "But best friends _do_ look out for each other, and that is exactly what Harry and I are doing. Trust us when we say that Hermione would be a lot better off if these lovey dovey feelings she has for Malfoy were to suddenly disappear."

"That's what_ you_ think. But have you even thought to ask Hermione _her_ opinion on this?" Geniva frowned.

"You mean like _you_ asked her opinion before spiking her drink?" Snape said nastily. "Listen, Miss Whittaker, I'm sure your heart was in the right place. But if what you are saying about your potion is true, and that Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger in fact _do_ have genuine feelings for each other, don't you think it would be best if _they_ decide when and _if_ they ever want to acknowledge those feelings?"

Geniva realized he had a good point. Feeling defeated, she stood up. "Fine," she grumbled. "I'll go whip up an anti-potion. But just to warn you, this anti-potion is not going to make their feelings go away. Sure, those two will go back to hating each other, but those feelings are still going to be there, deep down inside, just waiting to resurface."

Snape waved his hand. "Great. Wonderful. Whatever you say. Now these young gentlemen and I will stay here and wait for you to return with the anti-potion."

Geniva gave a short nod and disappeared into the back of the pub.

Once she was gone, Harry said, "So she was a student at Hogwarts?"

Snape sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling another headache coming on. "Yes. And as you could see, she was the Miss Granger of her day - an insufferable know-it-all. But I cannot deny that she was one of the best Potions students I ever had. Now," he said, getting up from the table, "I'm going to go get a drink. Preferably something a lot stronger than butterbeer. You two stay put." He sauntered off.

Harry and Ron sat there, digesting everything they had just heard. After a long moment of silence, Ron finally said, "Bloody hell."

"What?" asked Harry.

"Hermione's in love with Malfoy," Ron replied, looking crushed.

"But she doesn't realize it yet," Harry pointed out. "Well, I mean, she thinks she loves him right now, but after we give her the anti-potion, she won't realize that those feelings are still there. And we certainly won't tell her. With any luck, she will _never_ realize it."

"Bloody hell," Ron reiterated.

"What?"

"Malfoy's in love with Hermione."

"But he doesn't realize it yet," Harry said. "And even if he _does_ realize it someday, it's not like he would do anything about it. It's not as if he even _could _do anything about it, even if he _wanted_ to. What, with his father and all…"

Ron buried his face in his hands. "Bloody hell, Harry," he said solemnly. "Just…bloody hell."

* * *

_About an hour earlier…_

The winding stairs leading up to the Astronomy Tower seemed to go on forever, but Hermione dutifully climbed up each and every step, hoping she wouldn't get too exhausted in the process.

_Please be there Draco,_ she thought to herself. The thought of him changing his mind about his feelings for her scared the living daylights out of her. She knew she shouldn't even think about it, but it was just so hard to push it out of her thoughts. Hermione never had much confidence when it came to boys; mainly because only one boy had ever liked her, and that was Viktor Krum. For some strange reason, despite the fact that he could have had any girl he wanted, he had set his sights on _her_. What could he have possibly wanted with a bushy-haired, buck-toothed, plain-Jane bookworm? What would _any_ guy want with a girl like her? And most importantly, what would _Draco_ want with a girl like her?

Hermione sighed. She had finally reached the Astronomy Tower, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. _Calm down, Granger_, she scolded herself. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, then pushed open the door.

When she finally opened her eyes, the sight that greeted her took her breath away: the room was aglow with floating red candles everywhere, and rose petals were scattered all over the floor. She barely had time to blink before a pair of hands gently covered her eyes.

"Surprise," a voice whispered in her ear.

The feel of Draco's breath against the side of her neck sent chills down her spine. She grinned and spun around to face him.

"You're early," he stated.

Hermione frowned slightly. "I know. I'm sorry. I -"

Draco chuckled. "Oh, don't apologize. I was actually getting quite anxious waiting for you. I'm happy you're here." He reached out his hand and gently caressed her cheek.

Those chills Hermione had felt moments ago now multiplied. She could feel heat rising to the spot where he had touched her. Quickly, she cleared her throat and backed up slightly. "The place looks beautiful," she whispered.

Draco grinned at her compliment. "Thanks. It's not much, really, but it was the best I could do."

"Well you did a great job," she assured him. She glanced down at the floor. "You know, I thought…I thought maybe you wouldn't show up."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this little rendezvous for the world." He took a step closer to her and gazed deeply into her eyes. "So…we're alone at last. What would you like to do?"

Hermione's mind short-circuited. If it was possible for her to stutter in her thoughts, she was doing it right now. But then, without warning, she proceeded to do it out loud. "I – uh – um – er – I don't – um – how about – um – we could – or – uh –"

Luckily, Draco chose this moment to silence her with a kiss. It was soft, sweet and gentle, and too short in Hermione's opinion. When he pulled away only a few seconds later, he smiled and said, "You're so cute when you stumble on your words."

Hermione giggled. "And you're so cute when you -" But she was once again cut off by Draco's lips.

_This is more like it_, Hermione thought as she sighed into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck as he pulled her closer. Kissing Draco Malfoy certainly was an experience…like no other experience she had ever experienced. And it was a good experience…even though she was _in_experienced. Yes, Draco was the first boy Hermione had ever kissed. Contrary to popular belief, she had never snogged Viktor Krum, although she was sure he had _wanted_ to snog that night at the Yule Ball during her fourth year. However, she avoided any sort of intimate physical contact with him that night, since she wasn't even sure exactly how she felt about him. She had always dreamt of what her first kiss would be like, and with whom, and she wasn't about to waste it on just anyone. And right now she was so glad she hadn't.

"What are you smiling about?" Draco asked, pulling away from her slightly. Hermione hadn't even realized she had been smiling.

"Nothing," she replied, beaming. "It's just…I feel so happy right now."

"Me too," said Draco. He took her hand and led her over to the window. "There's something I've been wanting to give you. I wanted to wait until we were alone, for obvious reasons."

Hermione chuckled. "Our friends aren't exactly thrilled about us, are they?"

"Not at all. They think we are bloody mad. But we know different, don't we, luv?" He winked at her.

"We certainly do," Hermione replied.

Draco reached inside his robes and pulled out a small jewelry box. Hermione gasped at the sight of it. It was about the size of a ring box. _He isn't…I mean, he wouldn't…he's not going to ask me to…no…that can't be it…can it?_

Hermione's thoughts began to run wild. Draco watched her panic expression with amusement and grinned. "No, I'm not going to pop the question, if that's what you're thinking."

"Oh," Hermione said, sighing in relief. She was way too young to think about getting married, let alone to a guy she'd been in love with for only one day.

Draco held the box out to her, and with unsteady hands she reached out and took it. Slowly, she undid the red ribbon that had been neatly tied around it and opened it up.

"Oh my!" she gasped. Inside the box was a ring – white gold with a pear-shaped sapphire gem, with intricate carvings all around the band. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever laid eyes on. "Wow…this is so…beautiful," she breathed.

Draco smiled. "Sapphire is your birthstone, isn't it?"

Dumbfounded, Hermione nodded. She couldn't believe he was aware of what her birthstone was. "I don't know what to say, Draco. Thank you so much, but…I - I can't accept this."

"Yes you can," Draco said, taking the box out of her hand. He took out the ring and gently slipped it on to her right middle finger. "This ring belonged to my mother. It has been passed down from generation to generation, from mother to daughter for the past century or so. Of course, me being an only child and a male, my mother had no daughter to pass it on to. So, she gave it to me and told me to promise to one day give it to the woman I love. And that woman would be _you_, Hermione. So you _can_ and _will _accept it. See?" He glanced down at her hand, which was still in his. "It's a perfect fit." He paused for a moment, and then whispered, "_We_ are a perfect fit."

Hermione could feel tears of happiness forming in her eyes. She couldn't think of a thing to say. She knew if she tried to speak, her words would come out jumbled anyway. So, she just gave him a hug instead and sobbed into his shoulder.

Draco caressed her back softly and closed his eyes. He never knew before this moment what pure bliss felt like, but now that he did, he never wanted to let that feeling go. Caught up in a sudden rush of intense feelings, Draco blurted out the very next thing that came to his mind: "I love you, Hermione."

Hermione's eyes flew open in shock. Did he just say…_he loved her?_ That was indeed what she had heard, and when she realized it, she pulled away from him slightly and without even hesitating replied, "I love you, too." And with that, she proceeded to passionately snog the living daylights out of him.

Approximately ten minutes later, when their snog session had come to a close, they both pulled apart and attempted to catch their breath.

"It's getting late," Hermione whispered finally. "If I don't get back soon, Harry and Ron might come looking for me," she said, forgetting all about their detention with Snape.

"Yeah," Draco agreed. "I'm sure Pansy is having a fit right now. Why don't you leave first, so that people don't see us together?"

"Sounds like a plan." Hermione planted a chaste kiss on Draco's lips before whispering her goodbye. She turned around and without a glance back, she exited the Astronomy Tower, feeling Draco's gaze following her out. She glanced down at her ring as she bounced down the stairs. She suddenly felt as though she could float back to her dorm room, that's how unbelievably happy she was. Draco Malfoy had told her that he loved her. No guy had ever said those words to her before, nor had _she_ ever said them to any _guy_ before.

When she got back to her dorm, she flitted past everyone in the common room, including a very curious Ginny, and headed straight for bed. She could not wait to dream about Draco Malfoy. And as she drifted off to sleep that night, his words _"We are a perfect fit"_ echoed in her head, and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

"So you two know what to do, right?" Snape asked for the fifteenth time since they had left the Three Broomsticks earlier. "Do _not_ screw this up."

Ron made a face. "Don't worry, Professor. We know what to do. How bloody complicated could it be to spike their drinks?"

Snape shoved the flask into Harry's hands. "Knowing you, Mr. Weasley, probably incredibly bloody complicated." He glowered at them, turning on his heel and stomping off, leaving the two boys standing by themselves in the dark hallway.

"_Probably incredibly bloody complicated_," Ron mimicked. "I tell you, Harry, I have never seen anyone with a bigger stick up their arse."

Harry grinned and patted Ron on the back. "Cheer up, Ron. Just think – this time tomorrow, Hermione will back to her old self again."

Ron sneered. "What's so cheerful about that? Hermione is annoying whether or not she is in love with Malfoy. Having her back to her old self again won't make all that much difference."

Harry ignored Ron as they began their trek back to the common room. He held up the flask filled with the anti-potion and stared into it intently. "Don't worry, Hermione," he muttered in his best superhero voice. "We'll save you."

* * *

**Next Up: Harry and Ron save Hermione. But does she really _want_ to be saved?**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Author's Note: I would just like to take this opportunity to respond to a few of my reviewers:**

**hermionegarner: Hmm…I take it you are not a Draco/Hermione fan? LOL. Well, I'm glad you like my story anyway. Don't worry, the mushiness is coming to an end! Even though _I'm_ a D/Hr fan, I like it so much better when they can't stand each other. As for having her get together with Ron…well then I would have to change the character categories, hehe. But don't worry…I'm sure you will get your R/Hr fix in the actual series. ;)**

**FlairVerona: I'm not sure how much longer this story will be…probably just a couple more chapters. This was originally supposed to be a three-parter, but I always seem to have a hard time making a long story short…**

**prin69: I totally agree with you. Boys can be so st00pid sometimes!**

**Fluffyfledgling: Don't worry about being nitpicky – you were absolutely right about Snape being OOC in the last chapter. I thought the same thing after I reread it after posting. :)**

**And thank you to everyone else who reviewed. :D**

**Disclaimer: I'm not creative enough to come up with the Harry Potter series. In other words, I do not own it.**

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The next morning in the Great Hall, Harry and Ron were unusually giddy, which Hermione found to be quite odd.

"How did detention go last night?" she asked them.

"Bloody wonderful!" Ron exclaimed. Harry nudged him in the ribs and gave him a look that warned him not to sound so happy. But luckily, Hermione figured that Ron was being sarcastic, so she just shrugged it off.

"Well, it serves you two right for cheating." She shook her head. "I have never been more disappointed in you two."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Right. _So_ sorry. So how did your little girls' night go?" He looked over at Ginny and studied her. "Neither of you look made over."

"They were temporary spells, Ronald," Ginny said. She glanced over at Hermione in anticipation. The two girls had not had a chance to talk this morning, because Harry and Ron had been quick to interrupt their discussion. So Hermione had told Ginny they would discuss it later, when and if they found an opportunity to ditch the boys.

"Yeah," Hermione said. "I made Ginny into a blonde. She looked like a more attractive Pansy Parkinson."

Ginny glared at her for that. Hermione responded by grinning at her.

"Well, sounds like you two had about as much fun as me and Ron here," Harry said. "Or perhaps a little more."

"Yeah," Hermione said with a sigh. She glanced over at the Slytherin table and noticed that Draco was already looking at her. When their eyes met, they both blushed and smiled and looked away.

Harry noticed their little moment and grunted. He could not wait to slip her the anti-potion. But when would he be able to do it? Surely he couldn't just pour some into her pumpkin juice right in front of her without her questioning it. And then there was the even harder task of slipping it into _Malfoy's_ drink.

Suddenly, as if to make everything easier for Harry, Hermione stood up and said, "I, um, left something very important in my dorm. I'm going to go retrieve it. I'll meet you two in class." And she was off.

At the same time, Harry noticed that Malfoy had gotten up and was following Hermione out of the Great Hall. "We need to act fast," he whispered to Ron.

Ron nodded and reached over and grabbed Hermione's abandoned goblet full of pumpkin juice. Harry, meanwhile, reached over and retrieved Neville Longbottom's goblet.

"Hey!" Neville cried. "What are you doing? I was going to drink that!"

Without thinking, Harry grabbed Ginny's goblet and placed it in front of Neville. "Here, drink hers."

"Hey!" Ginny cried in protest.

The two boys did not stick around to explain. They grabbed their own goblets and bolted out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible, hoping that Hermione and Malfoy were nowhere in sight. They lucked out – the hallway was completely empty.

"I wonder where they are," Ron mumbled, glancing around.

"One thing at a time, Ron," Harry replied, setting the goblets down on the floor. He muttered a spell and refilled the nearly empty goblets with more pumpkin juice, then took the vial out of his bag and divvied up its contents between the two goblets they were going to give to Hermione and Malfoy. After he was done, he handed them both to Ron and picked up their own goblets himself.

"Okay," he whispered to Ron. "So here's the plan…"

* * *

The "something very important" that Hermione left in her dorm was the ring Draco had given her the previous night. She couldn't believe she had forgotten to put it back on the second she woke up, and she'd almost had a heart attack at breakfast when she realized it was not on her finger. 

Of course, when she had come to this realization, she abruptly stood up from the table and told everyone that she had left something in her dorm and that she would meet them in class. She was pretty sure everyone assumed that it was just a book she had left behind, because nobody (not even Ginny) knew about the ring.

Minutes after rushing out of the Great Hall, Hermione found herself panting in front of the Fat Lady, mumbling the Gryffindor password.

"Why the rush?" asked the Fat Lady as she opened the door.

"Forgot something," was Hermione's abridged explanation.

"Must be something mighty important," said the Fat Lady cheerfully.

"You have no idea," Hermione said with a grin. She sprinted through the portrait hole and ran all the way up to the girls' dormitory. When she found the ring, she breathed a sigh of relief as she placed it on her finger. It was weird – she'd only had the ring for a few hours, yet she already didn't feel right if she was not wearing it. She smiled to herself as she held her hand up to the window, noticing how the ring caught the light in a breathtaking manner. _"She gave it to me and told me to promise to one day give it to the woman I love. And that woman would be _you_, Hermione…"_

Draco's words played over and over in her head, and she felt like the luckiest girl in the world. Draco had chosen _her_ to give the ring to. Not Pansy Parkinson, or any of his other many admirers. She grinned at this thought. She was his, and he was hers. It couldn't get any better than that.

She hummed as she skipped down the stairs leading into the common room. Glancing at her watch, she realized she still had time to rejoin Harry and Ron in the Great Hall before heading to class. She just hoped they wouldn't notice the ring on their finger. But if they did, she already had a story ready to tell them, that her parents had sent it to her as a late Christmas gift. She figured she was safe, though. Boys like Harry and Ron don't normally notice little things like jewelry.

As she neared the portrait hole, Hermione stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Draco's voice on the other side of the portrait portrait, sounding quite irritated. "Please, I need to see her!"

"No!" the Fat Lady bellowed. "I told you, without a password, you are _not_ to enter! I don't care who you need to see, or what you need to do! I don't even care if your precious life depends on it! No password, no go!"

Hermione chose this moment to exit the portrait hole. Draco glanced up at her with a guilty expression as she emerged, but she just smiled sweetly at him. "What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I followed you," he replied, sounding slightly ashamed. "I wanted to say good morning and give you this…" He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Is this young man bothering you?" the Fat Lady asked Hermione.

Hermione giggled. "No, he's not bothering me at all." She looked at Draco. "Quite the opposite, actually." She leaned in to kiss him again, but was interrupted by her two best friends.

"Hermione!" Harry said frantically, running up to her. He most likely wanted to distract her before she could kiss Draco.

She groaned inwardly. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked them.

"We followed you," replied Ron.

"Yes, I noticed," Hermione said with a glare. She glanced down at the goblets in the boys' hands. "What are those for?"

Harry and Ron glanced nervously at each other. "Um…" Harry said, looking from Hermione to Draco, and back to Hermione. "Can we all go in here for a minute?" he asked, motioning to the portrait hole.

Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise. Did Harry just willingly invite Draco into the Gryffindor common room? "Yeah, sure," she said. She grabbed Draco's hand and followed her two best friends through the portrait hole.

"But he did not have a password!" the Fat Lady exclaimed.

"It's okay," Hermione told her. "Draco is to be allowed here whenever he wants to visit."

"Not without a password he isn't!" the Fat Lady said matter-of-factly.

"Well then I will just tell him the password," Hermione said with a wave, before heading into the common room. The Fat Lady grunted.

Harry and Ron were already sitting on one of the couches, the goblets sitting on a table in front of them.

"What's this about?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She eyed them suspiciously.

Harry motioned for both her and Draco to sit on the couch opposite them. Reluctantly, Hermione and Draco did just that, but not without exchanging a curious glance first. Harry wanted to gag when he saw Draco inch closer to Hermione on the couch and drape his arm around her waist. More nauseating was the fact that it made Hermione smile. And then to top it all off, she took his hand.

Quickly, Harry blurted out, "We want to apologize."

Hermione looked taken-aback. Obviously, this was the last thing she had expected. "Apologize?"

"Yes," Harry continued. "When Ron and I found you two at the Three Broomsticks the other night…we were, to lightly put it, _surprised_. And that initial shock made us do some pretty stupid things, such as stupefying both of you…"

"Which we are so sorry about," Ron added, even though he didn't really sound that sorry at all. "We thought that Malfoy had done something horrible to you, Hermione. I mean, you can't blame us. Look at the way he has treated you all these years."

"But -" Hermione attempted to interject, but Harry ignored her.

"But we see now. We see that you two obviously love each other, and that this isn't the result of some spell." Harry wondered if he was the only one not believing his lies. "So…" His voice trailed off.

"So…?" Hermione said in anticipation.

Harry sighed. "So Ron and I just wanted to say that we accept this. We accept you and Malfoy. And…we are happy for you."

Ron nodded in agreement. "In fact, we couldn't be happier."

"Right. So…we brought these drinks," Harry said, motioning to the goblets on the table. "I thought maybe we could have a toast. A toast to…newfound love, and newfound friendships."

It sounded like complete hogwash to both Harry and Ron, but Hermione seemed to be eating it up. They both couldn't help but notice the tears forming in her eyes.

"Do you two really mean it?" she said hopefully.

Harry gritted his teeth and put on his most sincere smile. "We really mean it, Mione. We love you and we want you to be happy."

"Oh, you guys!" Hermione cried gleefully.

Ron gave Harry a look that said, _Let's get this over with as quickly as possible please_.

Harry gave him a slight nod and grabbed the two spiked goblets and handed them both to Draco and Hermione, and then took his own and handed the other one to Ron. He couldn't help but notice Draco looking a little suspicious, but at the same time he seemed pleased with Harry and Ron's sudden change of heart.

"Right, so…" Harry held up his goblet. "To Hermione and Malfoy. May you two have a long, happy relationship full of love and…" He couldn't think of anything else to add.

"…fun relationship stuff," Ron finished for him, grinning.

"Amen!" Hermione said as all four of them clanked their goblets together.

Harry's heart rate accelerated as he watched both Hermione and Draco take sips from their goblets. He didn't really know anything about this potion. How long would it take to kick in? _Would_ it kick in? From the looks of things, it hadn't worked yet after their first sip; the two of them were still snuggling on the couch.

"You know, Potter, Weasley," Draco said, acknowledging them both with a nod. "This was very big of you both. I mean, I know it must be hard to accept the fact that Hermione and I are in love." He tightened his grip around Hermione's waist when he said this. "I can't say as if I blame you for having your suspicions, doubts and concerns. But you are doing the right thing. And I know that we will never be friends, but I hope we can at least be civil to one another, for everyone's sake."

Malfoy wanting to be civil with Harry and Ron? That didn't seem right. _Oh no,_ Harry thought in a panic. _What if I gave them the wrong goblets? What if Ron and I are drinking the anti-potion? Or worse, what if they _did_ drink the anti-potion but they still love each other?_ All of these thoughts and more ran through Harry's head as both Draco and Hermione finished off their goblets of pumpkin juice.

"Harry?" Hermione asked in a concerned voice. "Harry, are you alright? You look like you don't feel well. You look like…" Her voice trailed off as if something had just caught her attention. Slowly, she looked down at her hand, which was entwined with Draco's, and she let out a small gasp; a look of confusion found its way to her face.

Draco, meanwhile, went from looking at Harry as if he were mad, to looking down in horror at the same thing Hermione was. "WHAT THE HELL?" he exploded. He promptly let go of Hermione and jumped up from the couch.

Harry tried so hard to hide his pleased smile. It appeared as though the anti-potion had finally started to work.

For a brief moment, Hermione and Draco looked at each other with expressions filled with perplexity and dismay before finally all hell broke loose.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Draco demanded.

"There was a love potion -" Harry began calmly.

"LOVE POTION!" Draco yelled. He glared down at Hermione. "You bitch! You gave me a love potion!"

"I most certainly did not!" Hermione squealed, jumping up from the couch. "YOU! You did this!"

"WHAT? There is no way in hell I would give _you_ a love potion, you stupid mudblood!" He looked repulsed at the thought.

"And there is no way in hell that I would give _you_ one either!" Hermione cried. She looked over at Harry and Ron and said in a shaky voice. "What's going on, Harry?"

Harry took a deep breath before attempting to explain again. "A barmaid down at the Three Broomsticks spiked your butterbeers with a love potion the other night. You two have been completely smitten with each other ever since. We knew something was amiss, so we investigated. When we found out what the barmaid had done, we had her make up an anti-potion, which we slipped into your drinks…" His eyes darted to the goblets on the table.

Draco suddenly looked very ill, as the memories of the past couple of days flooded his memory all at once. "Bloody hell. Bloody fucking hell. Oh Merlin - will somebody please, PLEASE obliviate my memory?" he groaned. He began to pace back and forth, his hands grasping tightly at his hair, almost as if he were trying to claw through his skull to his brain to pluck out the memories by hand.

While Draco certainly _looked_ ill, Hermione actually _felt_ ill. The memories were flooding her brain as well, and all she could concentrate on were the memories of her kissing Malfoy. "I made out with a ferret," she said quietly, not really realizing that she was speaking aloud.

Draco heard her. Fuming, he yelled, "And _I_ made out with a filthy mudblood!" It wasn't until he'd said it out loud that Draco realized he had, in fact, _made out with a mudblood._ This realization was too much for him to handle. After glaring at each and every member of the Golden Trio, he quickly made a beeline for the portrait hole and disappeared.

Awkward silence filled the common room. Neither Harry nor Ron knew what exactly to say to Hermione, but they knew they had to say _something._

"Welcome back, Mione," Ron finally said. He got up and threw his arms around her.

Hermione didn't hug him back…nor did she hug Harry when it was his turn. She just stood there in a state of shock, disgust and…another feeling she couldn't quite place.

"How much do you remember?" Harry asked softly.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know," she whispered. "Everything, I suppose."

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, giving her a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"I'll be fine," Hermione said with a nod. "I just…need a minute alone here, to let everything sink in."

"Absolutely," Harry said. He motioned over to Ron. "Ron and I will just head to class now. We'll see you there, okay?"

Hermione nodded again and put on her best fake smile. "Yeah, sure."

After casting sympathetic glances her way, Harry and Ron disappeared out of the common room. The minute they were gone, Hermione collapsed on the couch. The events of the last few minutes and the memories of the past two days mixed together and made her head start to spin. She was suddenly overcome with a feeling of intense loathing where Draco Malfoy was concerned. However, there seemed to be one other feeling deep down that she could not quite identify, but that closely resembled..._emptiness_.

All Hermione really knew was that all of a sudden, she wasn't feeling so happy anymore.

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	8. Chapter Eight

**Author's Note: Thank you all for the reviews! I can't say that enough.**

**Disclaimer: Q. Do I own Harry Potter? A. I wish.**

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Hermione made it to Potions class that morning just a few seconds before the bell rang. She had to pass by Draco to get to her desk, but he was doing a wonderful job of making sure his eyes were not pointed in her direction. But she didn't shy away from glancing at him. He looked about as unhappy as she _felt_.

Quickly, she took a seat beside the Gryffindor girl whose name she still didn't know, and looked over to Harry and Ron, who were smiling and waving to her. She gave a small smile back and stared down at her desk. If she didn't think the day could possibly get any worse, she was about to find out that she was horribly mistaken.

Professor Snape entered the room briskly and walked straight to his desk. Without turning around to face the class he said, "Due to recent events, I thought that today we would discuss the pros and cons of love potions." As he said "love potions", he spun around and glared at Hermione, who was now blushing furiously. She didn't even have to turn around to look at Draco to figure he was probably fuming.

A few kids in the class snickered. Hermione just buried her face in her hands.

"Are you okay?" the girl beside her asked.

"No," Hermione grumbled in response. Something told her that the fact that Snape had taken a sudden interest in love potions was no coincidence. A quick glance over at a guilty-looking Harry and Ron confirmed that. Suddenly, realization hit her: yesterday…Snape asking to speak to Harry and Ron…their "detentions"…the anti-potion…Those little buggers! They got Snape involved in this!

As Snape began to talk about different types of love potions, Hermione got brave and turned around to look at Draco. To her surprise, he was staring back at her with a look of disgust. She was suddenly very glad that looks couldn't kill. Quickly, she turned back around in her chair and tried her very best to act normal.

Potions seemed to last longer than normal that day. Snape spent the entire time discussing the different types of love potions, what they do, what their ingredients are, and how no one should ever, ever, under ANY circumstances use one on another living human being. He then went on to list the consequences and repercussions of giving someone a love potion, and none of them were good.

When the bell finally rang, Hermione was quick to pack up her things and bolt for the door, completely ignoring Harry and Ron. She was furious and embarrassed and she suddenly found herself wishing a hole would open up in the floor beneath her and swallow her. But much to her chagrin, that did not happen. Instead, something slammed into her, sending her stumbling forward. Her books flew from her hands and fell to the floor with a _THUD._

_Oh how wonderful,_ she thought to herself dryly. When she bent down to pick up her books, a cold voice above her said, "Watch where you're going."

_Malfoy_. Hermione closed her eyes and silently counted to ten. _If you ignore him, he will go away_, she told herself.

She was _so_ wrong. When she finally stood up, she found herself face-to-face with a _very_ unhappy-looking Draco.

"Listen, Granger," he said, rather loudly. A few Slytherins nearby – including Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Crabbe and Goyle – all looked over at them curiously. "I know you are having a hard time getting over me, but you are just going to have to get it through that thick skull of yours that it was all just a joke, okay?"

Hermione stared at him, dumbfounded. "A joke? Malfoy, what are you talking abou-"

Draco sneered at her. "Oh please, Granger – you didn't honestly believe that I liked you…_did_ you?"

Hermione's jaw dropped. Suddenly she knew exactly what it was he was doing. He was protecting his precious reputation.

Before she had a chance to defend herself, he continued: "Oh Merlin, Granger," he said, trying hard not to laugh. "You really _did_ believe it, didn't you? I have to say, I can see how you were fooled so easily. Even _I_ was pleasantly surprised by my impeccable acting skills, which by the way, I wasn't even aware that I had. I mean, I got a silly little know-it-all mudblood to believe that someone like _me_ would actually lower my standards and give filth like _you_ the time of day. Now _that's_ good acting."

A lump began to form at the back of Hermione's throat. At first, she thought it was the threat of tears, but quickly learned that it was actually the result of the fury that was quickly building up inside of her.

By this time, Harry and Ron had rushed to her side, ready to defend her. The Slytherins, meanwhile, had inched closer to hear better.

"That's right, mudblood. It was all a hoax. I would have thought that the fact that a guy was actually acting _interested_ in you would have given the whole thing away. Not as smart as everyone thinks you are, huh Granger?" He snorted.

Hermione began silently counting again, only this time she was counting backward from ten.

"Well you're just going to have to get over me, because I do not, and _will not ever_ like you, you disgusting, filthy mudbl-"

The silent countdown inside Hermione's head had hit _one_, and without even realizing what she was about to do, her fist connected with Draco's face with as much power as she could muster. Ignoring the intense pain the impact had caused her hand, she said coolly, "Okay. I'm over you now."

For a brief moment, everyone that was crowded around them in the hallway stood, staring at her in shock – including Draco, whose nose had started to bleed. She didn't have to see Harry and Ron to know that they were looking at her in complete awe.

Once it had begun to sink in to everyone what had just happened, a high-pitched squeal broke them out of their daze.

"YOU BITCH!" Pansy screamed at Hermione. She lunged forward and grabbed a handful of Hermione's busy hair and pulled.

Hermione's head snapped back and she herself let out a squeal. She reached blindly behind her head, trying to smack Pansy's hands away, but to no avail. Pansy was a very determined girl when she was angry. And apparently, she was very angry right now.

Harry jumped in and tried to remove Pansy, but she elbowed him out of the way, knocking the wind out of him. At the same time, everyone else, including Ron, began chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Before she knew what was happening, Hermione found herself lying flat on her back on the floor, with Pansy straddling her. "You bitch!" Pansy screamed again, attempting to slap Hermione repeatedly, but Hermione kept blocking her.

"Get off me, you cow!" she yelled, trying to push Pansy away. However, she was heavier than Hermione had imagined, and she didn't budge.

Frustrated that her slapping technique had not worked, Pansy decided instead to go for Hermione's throat, enclosing her fingers around her neck tightly.

Hermione panicked. This fight had suddenly gone from moderately annoying to moderately _dangerous_. She clawed desperately at Pansy's hands, in hopes of removing them to get some air, but that only made Pansy tighten the grip.

"You stupid, foul mudblood! Nobody hurts Draco and gets away with it!"

The panic Hermione was feeling was beginning to subside as she felt herself slipping toward unconsciousness. She could hear Harry and Ron yelling frantically at Pansy, attempting to pull her off Hermione. But surprisingly, it was neither Harry nor Ron who finally managed to pry her off. It was _Draco_. "Pansy!" he barked, as he yanked her away.

The second Pansy's grip on her neck disappeared, Hermione gasped for air. Her lungs felt relieved, but her throat felt constricted and it burned with every intake of breath.

"She hurt you, Drakie!" Pansy whined. She tried to throw her arms around him, but he quickly pushed her away.

"What is going on out here?" Snape bellowed, stepping out of his classroom. He looked from a bleeding Draco, to Hermione who was still on the floor gasping for breath; Harry and Ron at her side, gently stroking her hair.

"Pansy tried to kill Hermione!" Harry replied.

"You two," he demanded, pointing at both Hermione and Draco. "In here. _Now_."

"But Professor!" Harry began to protest, but Hermione shook her head and silenced him.

Ron stood up and held out his hand. Hermione took hold of it and he helped pull her up from the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked, sounding about as concerned as he was capable of sounding.

"Yeah," Hermione whispered, before stepping away from them. She avoided Draco's gaze as she followed him into the classroom.

"Don't go anywhere, Miss Parkinson," Snape warned. "I want to speak with you next. The rest of you -" He looked at Harry and Ron as he said this – "_leave_."

Pansy pouted; the Slytherins looked disappointed; and Harry and Ron looked worried. But everyone reluctantly departed as they were told.

The door slammed behind Snape, making both Hermione and Draco jump. "Sit," he hissed.

They obeyed. Once they were both seated, Snape stood in front of them; arms folded across his chest and a look of contempt on his face. "Would either of you care to tell me what just happened out there?"

Neither Hermione nor Draco said a word. Hermione just stared at the desk in front of her, gingerly caressing the area of her neck where Pansy's hands had been and wincing. Draco glanced over at her and noticed this. He wondered briefly if she really _was _okay, but quickly decided he didn't care if she was or not.

When both of them refused to answer, Snape snarled, "Fine. Be that way. Thirty points from both houses, and detention tomorrow night for the both of you. Now get out of my sight."

Hermione blinked and nodded, never once glancing up at her teacher. The fact that Snape had just deducted points from his own house (something he _rarely_ ever did) didn't faze either Hermione or Draco in the least, and neither of them even attempted to protest over their punishment. Instead, they just stood up, glared at each other, and headed for the door.

"I know what happened between you two," Snape called out before they could leave the room. They both froze at the door. "I'm glad to see that you're both back to your old selves. But you might want to refrain from physical violence in the future, or next time your punishments will be a lot worse."

"Yes Professor," they both mumbled before exiting the room.

Pansy was still standing outside the classroom, twirling her wand around in her fingers in boredom. Her face lit up when she saw Draco emerge. "Oh Drakie! Are you okay? You didn't get punished, did you? How's your nose? That dumb bitch didn't break it, did she?"

Draco ignored her, so Pansy turned her attention to Hermione.

"How's your neck, Granger?" she asked, her voice dripping with fake concern. "I hope I didn't hurt you too much." She gave her a smug grin.

Hermione gritted her teeth and counted only to five this time before saying calmly, "How's your _ego_, Parkinson? I mean…because hoax or not, your _Drakie_ had _no_ problem making out with me – a _lowly mudblood_. Yet, he seems to cringe every time _you_ so much as lay a finger on him. I hope _that_ doesn't hurt _you_ too much."

That wiped Pansy's smug expression off her face almost immediately. Now it was _Hermione's_ turn to look smug.

"Shut it, Granger," Draco warned. He did this for two different reasons: one being that he couldn't stand to be reminded of the fact that he had made out with her; the other reason being that if provoked, Pansy _would_ kill her this time around. And Draco was not so sure he would stop her.

Pansy _was_ looking a bit like a rabid dog, ready to pounce on its next victim. Luckily, Snape stuck his head out the door. "Parkinson! Get in here!" he ordered.

The sudden sound of his voice made her jump and she let out a squeak. When she regained her composure, she glared at Hermione. "You might want to sleep with one eye open from now on, mudblood."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Please stop frightening me Pansy," she said in a monotone voice. "That's so mean of you."

Pansy stomped off in a huff, leaving Draco and Hermione alone in an awkward silence.

"_Never_ underestimate the power of Pansy Parkinson, Granger," Draco said finally. "She probably would have killed you had I not stepped in."

Hermione glared at him. "Oh, and I'll bet you expect me to _thank _you for that!" she exclaimed. "Why _didn't_ you just let her kill me, huh? Oh, I know – because I'm no good to you if I'm dead. You couldn't humiliate me then. Well…you could, but you wouldn't get the satisfaction of seeing my face when you did it. AGH! You make me sick, Draco Malfoy!"

"Well you don't exactly give me warm and fuzzy feelings either, Granger," he snapped. "Look, I did what I had to do, all right? If you can't accept that, it's _your_ problem, not mine."

"_What you had to do_?" Hermione scoffed. She opened her mouth to argue, but decided against it. She stood still for a few moments before saying, "You know what? Forget it. I've had enough of you for one day." And with that, she quickly brushed past him.

"What – you're not going to apologize for slugging me?" he called after her. "It figures. Mudbloods aren't exactly known for their good manners, are they?"

"Fuck you, Malfoy," Hermione called back to him in a singsong voice. She did not glance back. She just continued all the way down the hall and turned the corner…where Harry and Ron were waiting for her.

"Hermione!" Harry cried. He pulled her into a big hug. "Are you okay? If you want us to, we will hex Parkinson for you. Fred and George have been working on some great new projects -"

"No, no," Hermione replied. "I'm fine. No need to fight fire with fire, right? I'm sure she will forget about this whole thing in no time. This is Pansy Parkinson we are talking about, after all. She has an attention span of a flea…especially if Malfoy's nearby to flex his muscles for her."

Harry grinned, then glanced sheepishly down at the ground. "Look, Mione…we're sorry about getting Snape involved. But he sensed something was going on…and…well, we figured he could help us. And he did! He is the one who helped us find an anti-potion!"

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said with a smile that was not one hundred percent sincere. "I know that you two were just trying to help me. I know you were concerned about me, and that's sweet. You guys are the best friends a girl could have." She opened up her arms wide to welcome them both into a group hug.

"Now," she said as they all broke apart, "We'd better get going before we're late for our classes. I'll talk to you both later."

She did not wait for them to respond. Instead, she quickly left them behind and headed for the girl's lavatory. She hoped no one would be in there, and she got her wish. The only person in there, as a matter of fact, was Moaning Myrtle, whom she didn't mind so much. And Myrtle seemed _thrilled_ to see _her_.

"Ohhh! You look positively dreadful," she whined as she floated down next to Hermione.

"I _feel_ positively dreadful," Hermione said, leaning her back up against the wall and sliding down until she was seated on the floor. Before she could stop herself, she let out a sob.

"_I_ know what it's like to feel dreadful," Myrtle said. "After all, I haunt a toilet."

Without meaning to, Hermione burst out laughing. Myrtle frowned. "Are you making fun of me?"

"No!" Hermione assured her. "I just…I need to laugh, okay? It's the only thing stopping me from crying right now."

"Oh, don't let me stop you!" Myrtle started humming and floated back over to the stalls. She seemed to soon forget that Hermione was even there.

Hermione sighed and glanced down at her hand – the one she had used to punch Malfoy with – and smiled. It had felt so good to hit him; about a hundred times better than the time she hit him in third year. And he _deserved_ it about a hundred times more this time. She shook her head. At this time yesterday, she was practically planning on _marrying_ the git. Today, she was practically planning on _throttling_ him._ What a difference a day makes._

Deciding she would rather die than sit there and mope over Draco Malfoy, Hermione stood up and brushed off her robes. She was going to get through the rest of the day pretending like she didn't have a care in the world. If she encountered Draco, she would ignore him. If she encountered Pansy, she would walk the other way.

She was _not_ about to let one little mishap with a love potion ruin her life.

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	9. Chapter Nine

**Author's Note: I am suffering from writer's block! Again! Grr...**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter.**

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Madame Pomfrey had managed to perform a miracle on Draco's nose, which was all healed and just as perfect as ever by lunchtime. Sadly, however, nothing could be done to save his reputation.

It was one thing to be punched by a girl in front of a large crowd of people, but it was quite another to be punched by a _mudblood_ girl in front of a large crowd of people. And then, of course, there was the embarrassing incident of Pansy Parkinson, of all people, rushing to his rescue. Draco Malfoy did _not_ need a girl – or anyone for that matter – to defend him. He could do it on his own. Not that he even _needed_ defending. The mudblood's punch was very weak, and not very painful at all, and he could have hexed her into oblivion right then and there. He liked to think that he would have, had Pansy not stepped in. But…why exactly _did_ he save Granger from her again? If Pansy had killed her, she would have been doing something Draco had wanted to do for years. And the beautiful part of that would be that Granger would be dead, and Pansy would be sent to Azkaban. He could have gotten rid of his least favorite girls in the world in one fell swoop. He couldn't help but smile at the thought.

Nearly everyone in Slytherin was now aware of the fact that Draco had been sucker-punched by the Gryffindor bookworm, but none of them knew the _real_ story. Some were under the impression that he had cried after the blow; others were under the impression that the attack had been so severe, that they were surprised to learn that Madame Pomfrey had not needed to reconstruct his face. As for the rest of the Slytherins, they were too busy sniggering at him to really pay attention to any of the rumors.

The only Slytherin who could speak to Draco without poking fun at him was Blaise, who had cornered him in the hallway outside the Great Hall, just before lunch.

"So let me get this straight," Blaise said. "So you_ were_ playing the mudblood all along?"

Something about Blaise's question made Draco cringe. "That is correct."

"Right…okay…" Blaise looked deep in thought. "So when you told me yesterday that you were _not_ playing her, you lied to me?"

"Correct again."

"But you seemed so sincere about liking her."

"Like I told Granger, Zabini, I'm an amazing actor."

"Sure, sure," Blaise said in a tone of voice that made Draco think Blaise wasn't believing what he was hearing. "So then why didn't you just admit it when I asked you?"

"Because I couldn't trust that you wouldn't tell anyone."

"Oh please, Draco, you know you can trust me, and I know that you know that." He narrowed his eyes at him. "So what exactly was the point of this?"

Draco sighed with annoyance. "The point of what, Zabini?"

"The point of seducing Granger as a joke."

"The point, Zabini, was to humiliate her."

Blaise smiled. "And yet, _she_ was the one who ended up humiliating _you._"

Draco frowned. "That's not how _I_ see it, Zabini," he hissed.

"You want to know how _I_ see it?" Blaise said, widening his grin. "I think you're in love with Granger."

Draco nearly choked on his spit. "Ex_cuse_ me? If _that's_ how you see it, then I suggest you go get your eyes examined. I am _not_ in love with Granger." He shifted his gaze over to the group of approaching Slytherins, including Crabbe and Goyle. "Now would you please keep your voice down?" he warned Blaise.

"How's your nose, Malfoy?" Goyle asked, slapping Draco playfully on the back. Crabbe snickered.

"It's doing just fine, thanks," he replied through clenched teeth. As annoyed as he was with the Slytherin group's arrival, he was also relieved for the distraction from his current conversation with Blaise.

"We were just talking about his faux love affair with Hermione Granger," Blaise filled them in.

Crabbe and Goyle both let out a playful "Ooooh!" while Draco let out a groan. Sometimes, he really didn't like Blaise all that much.

"That was bloody brilliant, Malfoy," Crabbe said in an approving tone. "You really made a fool out of her, didn't you?"

"Yes, he most certainly did," Goyle nodded in agreement. "I must admit, though, you had us all fooled. We thought you were seriously in love with the mudblood! We thought you'd gone mad!"

"Well, I hadn't," said Draco. "I am still perfectly sane."

"But you – you _kissed_ her!" Crabbe said in disgust. "That must have been horrible. Was it horrible?"

Draco had to stop himself from saying that no, it _wasn't_ horrible, because it really wasn't. But there was no way he would ever admit that to anyone. He wouldn't even admit it to himself if he didn't have to. "You know," he said, "that question reminds me of a joke: what's the difference between making out with a mudblood, and making out with a dead fish?"

All of the Slytherins stared blankly at him and shrugged.

"There really _is_ no difference," Draco replied. The Slytherins roared with laughter, all but Blaise who was frowning slightly and staring at something over Draco's shoulder. He didn't need eyes on the back of his head to know who was standing there.

Spinning around, he found himself looking at a very angry Hermione. She had obviously not missed the punch line of his "joke". Deciding not to feel bad about it, he grinned and said slyly, "Granger. We were just talking about you."

Crabbe and Goyle sniggered; Hermione looked as though she should have had steam coming from her ears.

"Malfoy," she said curtly. "May I speak with you in private?"

"Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of my friends, Granger."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You mean I can discuss the astoundingly miniscule size of your -"

"OKAY! Okay," Draco said quickly, grabbing her arm and yanking her away from his friends, including Blaise, who was looking quite amused. Draco dragged her all the way down the hall, and once they had turned the corner, he thrust her up against the wall.

"Ow!" she cried out. "Well this certainly brings back memories," she mumbled, remembering the _last_ time Draco Malfoy had thrown her up against the wall…

"Strop drooling from the memories, Granger. You're not about to get lucky." He let go of her robes and glared at her. "How dare you attempt to _falsely _insult my manhood in front of my mates!"

Hermione blinked. "Manhood? Oh…Oh! No, I was actually going to comment on your incredibly miniscule _brain_. But I suppose the manhood remark would have been more appropriate."

Draco snarled. "Well as much as I am enjoying this conversation of ours, why don't you just get on to what you wanted to talk to me about, before I get bored and leave."

Hermione stood up straight as her eyes narrowed. "You! You are going around the whole school making up humiliating lies about me!"

Draco refrained from grinning. She was right – he _was_ going around the school spreading rumors. Everything from her being a terrible kisser, to her proposing marriage. "Yeah? So?"

"So? So I really don't appreciate it!"

Draco rolled his eyes. "So sorry. I didn't know. Tell you what – next time I go to spread some unflattering rumors about you, I'll ask you first how you feel about it. Deal?"

Hermione looked at him incredulously. "Why must you always be a pompous git?"

"It's who I am, Granger. If you have a problem with that, then sod off. And you know what? I'm doing you a huge favor. Before all this, no one besides Boy Wonder and the two Weasels even knew who you were. Now all of the girls are jealous of you because you got to kiss _me_, and all of the boys want to see if my stories about you are true." He winked.

Hermione had to fight the urge to hit him again. "Words cannot even begin to describe how much I loathe you," she said in a low voice.

Draco smirked and glanced down. He took her hand gently in his and inched closer to her, leaning his forehead against hers. He looked deeply into her eyes.

Hermione's heart pounded unsteadily in her chest as she stared back at him. What was he doing? He wasn't going to kiss her, _was_ he? And if he did, she wouldn't _let_ him…_would_ she?

"If you loathe me so much," Draco whispered; his other hand caressing the side of her face, "then why are you still wearing the ring I gave you?"

Hermione's breath caught in her throat. The ring! Bollocks! She had forgotten all about it! She blushed furiously and glanced down at her hand, which was still being held by Draco.

"I – I didn't, er -" she stuttered.

"You – you didn't, er _what_?" he mocked. He grasped the ring between his thumb and forefinger and carelessly yanked it off her finger in one swift motion.

Hermione cried out in protest; it felt as though he was going to pull her finger off as well. Luckily, the ring slid off fairly easily without loss of a digit.

"Well I'm going to have to take it back," he snarled, taking a step back from her. He paused for a moment, looking deep in thought, before saying, "On second thought, why don't you keep it? You know…as a reminder that the _only _way you will ever get guys to fall in love with you is if you force-feed them a love potion." He took her hand once more, dropped the ring into her palm, and gently enclosed her fingers over it. "See you, Granger."

He turned and began to walk off. Hermione could feel angry, hot tears beginning to well up in her eyes, but once again she refused to cry over Draco Malfoy. So instead, she took one more look at the ring and then hurled it at him as hard as she could. Her accuracy was perfect; it bounced right off the back of his head and plummeted to the floor with a _clink_.

Draco stopped dead in his tracks and spun around, rubbing the back of his head and looking at Hermione in surprise.

"I don't want your mother's stupid ring," Hermione said coolly. She considered walking off at this moment, but decided against it. She had one more thing to say to him first: "You know, Malfoy…I wonder what scares you more: the fact you were able to have those feelings for me…" She frowned slightly, and continued in a whisper, "…or the fact you were able to have those feelings _at all_."

Draco stared at her, and by the look on his face, Hermione knew she must have struck a nerve. But she wasn't going to wait around to see if she was right; she turned on her heel and walked briskly around the corner, bumping into a dark-haired boy in the process.

"Sorry," she mumbled, not even bothering to look up to see who it was she had just plowed into. She just wanted to get as far away from Draco Malfoy as quickly as possible.

* * *

Blaise Zabini was a very curious boy. That was why he had left his group of Slytherin cronies to go eavesdrop on Draco and Hermione. Unfortunately (he realized when the bushy-haired Gryffindor ran into him whilst turning the corner), he had arrived too late. 

From the way Hermione had brushed past him so quickly, he assumed that things hadn't gone too well. And seeing Draco confirmed that. When he turned the corner, his best friend was in the process of picking something up from the floor, and looking as though he wanted to kill someone.

"You okay?" Blaise asked tentatively.

Draco glared at Blaise, stuffing into his pocket whatever it was he had picked up from the floor. "I'm bloody wonderful."

"Could have fooled me," Blaise said, leaning up against the wall. "Or was that sarcasm?"

"What do you think?" Draco growled in response. He started pacing back and forth, clenching his fists at his side. "Who the hell does she think she is?"

"Who, Granger?" Blaise shrugged. "I don't know who _she_ thinks she is, but I sure know what _I_ think. She's a hot little spitfire, isn't she?" He grinned.

Draco's jaw dropped. "Are you completely _daft_?"

"No," Blaise replied. "I'm a hot-blooded male who happens to know a good thing when I see it. I mean, come on – you have to admit Granger's kind of hot."

"I do _not_ have to admit that, because Granger is _not_ hot! What the hell has gotten into you, Zabini?"

Blaise shrugged. "I dunno. When she hit you earlier, it made me realize something: Granger is not like other girls. While every other female in this school kisses the very ground you walk on, Granger breaks your nose. That's hot."

"Yeah, what a woman," Draco said sarcastically.

"So…things are officially over between you two, then?"

"There was _never_ anything going on between me and the mudblood, Zabini. It was all a joke, remember?"

"Right," Blaise said, smiling. "Well that's great then. Maybe I'll have a go at her."

Draco's jaw dropped open. "Pardon?"

"Granger. I think I'll ask her out. I mean, if it's okay with _you_."

"Of course it's okay with me!" Draco exploded. "Why wouldn't it be okay with me?" He scowled.

"Great!" Blaise grinned. He gave Draco a hearty pat on the back. "Well I'm going to go see if I can catch up with her. Wish me luck!"

"You're going to need all the luck you can get," Draco mumbled as Blaise rushed off. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

Draco shook his head in disbelief. _Blaise is an idiot. What the hell would he want with Granger? He can have any girl in the school…and he's going to settle for a mudblood Gryffindor? And even after I told him she's a lousy kisser? What a bloody moron._

Absent-mindedly, he reached into his pocket and ran his finger over the ring Hermione had so rudely thrown at him. How dare she give it back to him? And how dare she try to psychoanalyze him? She had a lot of nerve, that girl. And at this moment, he hated her more than he ever thought he could.

At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

* * *

Blaise whistled merrily as he strode down the hallway. He had lied to Draco; he wasn't looking for Hermione. He wasn't actually planning on asking her out, either. He'd only said that to see what kind of reaction he'd get from Draco. He wasn't completely disappointed, but his best friend had played it cooler than he had expected. But Blaise was not stupid; he could tell that Draco was in denial as far as his feelings for Hermione were concerned. But getting him to admit it would be a challenge. 

Luckily, Blaise loved a good challenge. But where to start? He stopped mid-stride and glanced around the crowded hallway. Over to his left was a group of vulnerable-looking first years who looked like they could use a good tormenting. A grin slowly began to form on Blaise's face as an idea came to mind.

A good place to start, he decided, would be to get detention for tomorrow night.

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	10. Chapter Ten

**Author's Note: When I look back to when I first started this story, and how my original plan was to make it a two- or three-parter, and now here I am submitting Chapter Ten, I realize…I have such a hard time making a long story short. Lol**

**Thanks again for all the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. If I was, I would not be writing a romance fic between Hermione and Draco. ;)**

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"I don't get it," Ginny said the next morning, sitting down on the edge of Hermione's bed. "First, you hated Malfoy. And then you loved him for about two days. Now you hate him again? What happened?"

Hermione, who had flung herself facedown on her bed, groaned into her pillow. She couldn't believe Ginny hadn't been told by Ron or Harry about the love potion, and she wasn't really anxious to tell the story all over again. Regardless, she began to recount the story in its entirety, from Malfoy joining her at The Three Broomsticks, all the way up to her bouncing the ring he gave her off the back of his head. When she was done, Ginny looked shocked.

"Ugh! My stupid brother and his stupid friend! How could they not have told me about this? And here I was, thinking that you were _sincerely_ in love with Malfoy! I was worried about your sanity, Mione. I really was! If I had known it was just a love potion, I wouldn't have been so concerned! But, oh! I was actually starting to accept the fact you loved him! You two actually look quite cute together! But now you tell me that it was all just a farce? I can't believe this." Ginny took a deep breath, and shook her head sadly.

Hermione sat up. "I hate this, Gin. I mean…under the influence of the love potion, those feelings I had for Malfoy were so _real_. And I was _so happy_. And now…I'm _not_." She buried her face in her hands.

"Aww, sweetie," Ginny said, giving her friend a gentle pat on the head. "There, there. The last person in the world you want to get upset over is Draco Malfoy. He is a git, Hermione. A stupid git, that's all. Don't give him a second thought." She stood up from the bed. "Now we'd better get going down to breakfast."

"You go on ahead without me," Hermione said sullenly. "I'll catch up with you."

Ginny smiled. "Okay. I'm going to go find Ronald and Harry and yell at them."

Hermione smiled back. "Good idea, Gin. Give them hell."

"They won't know what hit them!" Ginny said gleefully and bounced out of the dorm.

Hermione's smile faded when she suddenly remembered what today was: detention day. Not only was she going to have to suffer through a long day of stares, snickers and whispers behind her back, but then she would have to proceed with spending the entire evening with Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. There was absolutely nothing fair about this.

After about ten more minutes of feeling sorry for herself, Hermione headed down to the Great Hall. However, on her way there, she was intercepted by none other than Blaise Zabini.

"Hey, Granger," he said smoothly, quickly following into stride beside her.

Hermione looked at him suspiciously. "Zabini."

"Nice weather we've been having, huh?" he asked.

Hermione abruptly stopped. "Zabini, we both know you do not want to talk to me about the weather. So please…just tell me what's on your mind. And quickly – I'm supposed to be meeting my friends for breakfast."

Blaise grinned. "You're right. I don't want to talk about the weather. I guess all I wanted to say was…Wow, you've got a mean right hook."

As much as she wanted to, Hermione could not prevent herself from smiling at this. "Yes. Well, what can I say? It tends to be a lot more powerful when a Slytherin is on the receiving end of it."

Blaise beamed. "I like your attitude, Granger, you know that? You've got spunk. I like that. I like it a lot."

Hermione stopped smiling. Blaise Zabini had just complimented her not once, but twice…and in a row. Something was wrong here. Something just wasn't quite right…

Unfortunately, she could not question him on his motives. As soon as the words had escaped his mouth, he turned around and left. But not without gently touching her shoulder first. _Okay…that was weird._ She shuddered then; at first she thought it was because a Slytherin had just willingly touched her, but then she realized it was because she could sense someone was staring at her. Turning around, she saw just who was looking at her so intently: Malfoy. And he did _not_ look happy. But he, too, departed quickly, leaving Hermione wondering what the hell had just happened.

* * *

Classes flew by quickly that day, probably because Hermione hadn't wanted them to ever end. _If classes don't end, I don't have to serve detention_. 

But they ended on the dot, and were followed by the evening feast, which Hermione had decided to skip, due to lack of appetite. Plus, she didn't want to risk any more run-ins with her detention mates. She would have enough of them later on. Instead, she decided to hide out in the common room, writing in her diary about how much of a ferret Malfoy is. She was so enthralled with what she was writing (a list of all the reasons she hated Malfoy), that she didn't even notice that a small group of people was standing directly in front of her.

"Erm…Mione?" came a small voice. Hermione jumped slightly and looked up to see Harry, Ron and Ginny standing in front of her. Ron cleared his throat. "We have something to say."

Ginny nodded and pushed him forward, before leaving the room to give them all privacy. Hermione knew that whatever Ron was about to say, he was being forced by Ginny to say it. "I know we've said this a couple of times already, but Harry and I…we're…well, we're sorry."

Hermione arched an eyebrow. "Sorry?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "For, erm, getting involved with this whole _you and Malfoy_ thing. When we gave you that anti-potion…I mean, I hope you don't think that…that we were trying to take away your _happiness_…"

"Oh, you two," she said, clicking her tongue. She stood up and pulled them both into a group hug. "I know all of this already. I know you were just trying to help me. I know you were worried about me. And honestly, I would have done the same thing if one of you had fallen in love with Pansy Parkinson."

"Ew," Ron muttered, completely disgusted with the idea. "I'd rather eat slugs. And that's saying a lot, because I've actually eaten slugs before, and they are rather repulsive."

Hermione giggled, remembering that mishap in second year when Ron had meant to curse Malfoy for calling Hermione a "mudblood", but instead, the curse had backfired on _him_, causing him to cough up one slug after the other. She sighed. That had been yet another time her best friends had attempted to protect her from Malfoy. And that was all they had been trying to do _this_ time – to protect her from the evil bully who liked to call her names.

It was in this moment that she realized what a jerk she had been. At the same time she was acting all lovey-dovey with Draco Malfoy, she had treated her best friends – who had only had her best interest at heart – unfairly. She hugged them tighter. "I apologize too."

Harry and Ron both pulled away from her with surprised looks on their faces. "Apologize to us?" Harry said. "Why?"

"Because! I should have listened to you both, when all you were trying to do was make me come to my senses. Instead, I was rude to you. There was no excuse for that."

"No excuse?" Harry exclaimed. "You were under the influence of a love potion, Hermione! You can't get a better excuse than that!"

"But still…I feel bad. Do you guys forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive!" Ron practically shouted. The two boys hugged her again.

"Oh no," she groaned, glancing over their shoulders at her watch. "I have to leave for detention."

"You should skip it!" Ron said. "You'll get more detention time for it, but at least you wouldn't have to be spending it with the ferret and his hussy."

For a brief second, Hermione actually considered it. But, hating to break the rules, she quickly decided against it. "No, I'll just go and get it over with. And hope I come out of it alive."

"We'll wait up for you," said Harry, giving her hand a comforting squeeze.

Hermione smiled. "Thanks."

Taking a deep breath, she said solemnly, "See you later," and waved to them as she adisappeared through the portrait hole. 

Harry and Ron smiled and waved back, but as soon as she was gone, both of their smiles faded.

"Am I the only one who's feeling kind of guilty here?" Ron asked.

Harry sighed. "No. I feel guilty, too."

"Hermione's too nice for her own good. Apologizing to us when she's done absolutely nothing wrong!"

"And in the meantime, it's you and I who are doing _everything_ wrong."

"You mean…" Ron's voice trailed off.

Harry nodded. "Yes, I'm talking about what that barmaid told us. You know, about how the fact that the stupid love potion _worked_ means that Hermione and Malfoy having genuine feelings for one another. Maybe we should tell Hermione…"

"Why?" Ron exploded. "So that she and Malfoy can get back together and live happily ever after? Because we both know that a relationship between Hermione and Malfoy is dangerous and…and…just _wrong_."

"I know!" Harry exclaimed. "But we are hiding this information from our _best friend_, Ron! You heard Ginny! She said Hermione is not as happy now as she was with Malfoy! Ron, I think…I think we should tell her."

"Bollocks to that!" Ron cried. "I say we _don't_ tell her! What she does not know won't hurt her!"

"But -"

"But nothing, Harry! We don't tell her, and that's that! Do you really want to end up Malfoy's best man at their wedding?"

Harry received a sudden mental picture of himself and Ron in dress robes at Hermione's wedding, trying very hard to restrain themselves from strangling Malfoy. As soon as the vision ended, he cleared his throat and said, "You're right. I think it's best she never find out the truth."

Ron nodded. "Agreed."

The two boys shook hands, and then proceeded to talk about Quidditch…never knowing that a certain redheaded girl named Ginny Weasley had been listening the whole time by the stairs to the girls' dormitory…

* * *

Draco had witnessed the little bit of interaction between Hermione and Blaise in the hall earlier that morning, and he didn't know what to make of it. But more importantly, he didn't know what to make of the way he _felt_ about seeing their interaction. Part of him was repulsed. Why would anyone, _especially_ a Slytherin,want to court someone as horrid as Hermione Granger? It made no sense. Yet, another part of him wanted to strangle Blaise Zabini. But then, he wasn't exactly sure _why_. All he knew was that he'd had all these strange feelings all day, whenever he would see Blaise and Hermione in the hallway together. Which was surprisingly quite often. Between classes, Blaise would approach her and say something to her. Sometimes, she would smile; other times she would look bemused. But every time, Blaise walked away from her looking as if he'd just caught the Snitch. And every time, Draco wanted to wipe that smug grin off his face… 

"Drakiekins!" An annoying voice broke him out of his reverie. He groaned.

"What do you want, Pansy?"

"Well, I was hoping you would walk me to detention! You know, since we're both going." She flopped down on the couch beside him.

Classes had been over for a couple of hours, and detention would be starting fairly soon. He really would have rather been doing _anything_ other than spending a whole evening with Pansy Parkinson and Hermione Granger.

"Sure, Pans," he said through clenched teeth.

"Yipee!" she squealed with glee, clapping her hands together. "Oh, detention is going to be so great! It will just be me and you…and the bushy-haired mudblood, of course. But at least we will have each other." She batted her eyelashes at him.

Suddenly, Draco felt ill. He stood up abruptly and said, "I'm leaving now. If you want to walk with me to detention, I suggest you follow me." Without looking at her once, he headed for the portrait hole. With any luck, Pansy would not be able to keep up with him, and lose her way to detention. And if he were the luckiest bloke in the world, Hermione Granger would get lost on the way too.

Somehow, though, he figured neither would have trouble finding their way.

* * *

Blaise practically skipped down the hallway. He was headed for detention, and he couldn't be more thrilled about it. Lost in his own little world, he almost missed the flash of red that had just sped by him. _Almost._

He turned to see Ginny walking briskly down the hallway. Before he knew what he was doing, he called out, "Hey! Hey…" He grasped his memory, trying for the life of him to remember her name, but finally settled on just calling her, "_You._"

Ginny slowly came to a stop, not knowing for sure if Blaise Zabini had just spoken to _her._ Turning around and seeing him pointing his finger at her told her that he, in fact, _was_ talking to her. "My name's Ginny," she informed him.

Blaise looked as though he couldn't care less. "Wonderful. Say…you're good friends with Granger, aren't you?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah…what of it?"

"Well, I was just wondering - if someone happened to be interested in her, how would he go about asking her ou -"

"Look," Ginny said, cutting him off. "I don't mean to be rude, but I just found out something very interesting, and I don't really think I should be giving you information about my best friend." With that, she turned back around and resumed walking briskly.

"Wait! Jenny!" Blaise called after her.

Ginny stopped again. "It's _Ginny_."

Blaise snorted. "As if it matters." He took a step toward her. "This thing you just found out…it wouldn't have anything to do with Granger and Malfoy, would it?"

Ginny's jaw dropped slightly. "As a matter of fact, yes. How did you know?"

Blaise gave her a cocky smile. "I'm really smart. That, and I'm a hell of a good guesser. Now tell me what's up."

"You expect me to tell _you_?" Ginny said incredulously, folding her arms across her chest. She glanced him over and said, "You're Malfoy's best friend, aren't you?"

Blaise held up his arms. "Guilty as charged."

Ginny giggled, but quickly realized that she shouldn't be giggling at something a Slytherin said, so she stopped. "Well…" Her eyes darted around the hallway, making sure they were alone. "I overheard a conversation my brother and Harry were having. About Hermione and Malfoy. You know most of the story, don't you? I mean, the _real_ story?"

"Sure," Blaise said. "Draco played a prank on Granger."

"Wrong," Ginny said, shaking her head. "Somebody slipped them a _love potion_. And the reason why they hate each other again is because Harry and Ron found the anti-potion and fed it to them."

Blaise was taken aback. Aha! So it_ hadn't_ been a joke after all! He _knew_ something was amiss this whole time, and now this Jenny girl had confirmed it. "Well isn't that interesting…"

"Mmhmm," Ginny agreed. "But that's not all."

"Oooh, there's more?"

"Yes. But…" She looked at him warily. "I don't think I should tell you. I mean, _I'm_ not even supposed to know. Let alone someone I can't trust."

"Aw, Janie, you can trust me. Cross my heart." He drew an invisible X over his chest with his finger.

She should have known better, but she was just _dying_ to tell someone. Before she could stop herself, she said, "According to what I overheard, that love potion that was given to our dear friends…somehow, the fact that it worked means that they _actually_ _do_ like each other. I don't really know what that means, or why it means it. All I know is that our best friends are in love with each other, and they're both in a huge state of denial."

Slowly, a grin began to form on Blaise's face until it was physically impossible to grin anymore. _So…Draco likes Granger. Granger likes Draco. And neither wants to admit it. _And here he was starting to think maybe his plan would turn out to be futile, when in fact it was going to be a lot more effective than he had ever imagined.

Oh, he couldn't _wait_ to get to detention.

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	11. Chapter Eleven

**Warning: I could not for the life of me come up with a decent detention to write about, that's why I came up with the lame idea I came up with. ;)**

**Author's Note: Thanks to everyone once again for the reviews. **

**Disclaimer: Honestly, I'm not J.K. Rowling. I'm not even British.**

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Detention that night was being held by Professor McGonagall, which was in a lot of ways a great relief to Hermione, who had to admit she was nervous about serving detention with 2 Slytherins who hated her guts. At least she hadn't gotten stuck with Filch, or worse, Snape. McGonagall would at least sympathize with her.

Hermione was, of course, the first one to arrive. When she stepped into the classroom, McGonagall looked up at her with a stern look. "Miss Granger," she said, "I cannot tell you how shocked I was to learn that you would be attending detention this evening. And for fighting no less." She shook her head in disappointment.

"I know," Hermione said, hanging her head in shame. "I know I should not have resorted to violence. I'll never let it happen again."

"Yes, well." McGonagall stood up and walked around to the front of her desk. She placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I hope you at least made this detention worth it." She winked. "I heard from Madame Pomfrey that she had quite the time fixing Mr. Malfoy's nose."

Hermione grinned. She had never liked McGonagall as much as she had in that very moment.

Unfortunately, Hermione's good mood was instantly squashed about five seconds later, when Draco arrived, with Pansy trailing behind him, talking about her hair. Draco looked like he couldn't care any less. In fact, he almost appeared to be relieved to see Hermione standing there. _Almost._

"Well," McGonagall said, interrupting Pansy, who shot her a dirty look. "It looks as though we are just waiting for one more person…"

"I'm here!" a voice said, as a tall dark-haired boy rushed into the room. Blaise Zabini.

"Zabini?" Draco said, looking surprised.

Blaise nodded. He looked at Professor McGonagall. "I'm terribly sorry I'm late, Professor. But something very urgent came up last minute." He looked over at Hermione and winked.

Hermione blushed. Draco scowled. Pansy sighed and twirled a strand of hair around her finger, looking terribly bored already.

"That is quite all right, Mr. Zabini," McGonagall said, waving her hand. "Well now that we are all here, I guess detention can begin. I was originally going to just have you all write lines about how you will not resort to violence ever again." She looked over her glasses at Blaise. "Or in your case, that you will not torture first years ever again." Blaise smiled as McGonagall continued: "But then I figured I should have you all do something that will have you working together." Pansy groaned. "Which is why you're going to help set up for a party."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "A party?"

"Yes," McGonagall replied. "Tomorrow is Professor Sprout's birthday, and the staff is planning a surprise birthday for her. Normally, we would just have the house elves set it up, but I think this would be the perfect opportunity to give them a night off, and _you four_ a chance to work together."

McGonagall led them out of the classroom. "The party is being held in an abandoned classroom that hasn't been touched in Merlin knows how long. So you will have to pair up. Two of you will be in charge of cleaning, and the other two will be in charge of making the decorations."

"I call Granger as my partner!" Blaise said quickly. He grabbed Hermione by the back of her robes and pulled her toward him, causing her to stumble slightly. She glared at him, as did Draco.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "Very well." She stopped in front of a classroom door that none of the four kids recognized. "I have other matters to attend to, but I will be back in an hour or so. Until then, Mr. Malfoy, Miss Parkinson, you will be in charge of decorations. Miss Granger, Mr. Zabini, you will be in charge of cleaning." She turned to leave, but stopped. "Oh, and before I forget. Hand over your wands." She held out her hand. All four kids reluctantly handed over their wands. Without them, their work would be a lot more tedious. But then, that really was the whole point of detention.

"_Alohomora_," McGonagall said, pointing her wand at the door. The door unlocked and McGonagall pushed it open. "There you go. Have fun."

Hermione caught her eye before she left. She gave her professor a pleading look that clearly said, _please_ _don't leave me alone with three Slytherins!_

McGonagall gave her a sympathetic look. "It'll be over before you know it, Miss Granger," she whispered, before disappearing behind the door. Hermione gulped.

The four of them stood in silence in the large, dark and dirty room, for what seemed like forever, not doing anything. Finally, Pansy spoke up. "I'm not making decorations for some stupid party. I am not a house elf. I refuse to be told what to do!"

"Fine, Pansy," Blaise said, picking up a bucket of soapy water that had been left for them. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. But when McGonagall comes back and sees you've done nothing, you'll get another detention, and you will keep getting them until you've done what you are told to do. Do you really want to spend the rest of your days at Hogwarts in detention?"

Pansy huffed and ignored Blaise. She grabbed Draco's sleeve and pulled him over to the table that was set up all the way across the room.

Blaise shook his head. "Merlin, she is annoying, isn't she?" he said softly to Hermione.

Hermione couldn't help but smile. "She is insufferable."

"You don't know the half of it. You don't share a common room with her." He rolled his eyes.

Hermione giggled. "Thank you," she said before she could stop herself.

"For what?"

"For picking me as your partner. I don't know what I would have done if I'd gotten stuck with either one of them." She motioned over to Draco and Pansy with a look of disgust on her face.

"Ahh. Well, you're welcome." He looked over at his friends. Pansy had a scowl on her face and was whining about something. Draco appeared to be ignoring her. "They make quite the lovely couple, don't they?"

Hermione's smile quickly turned into a frown. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"Me?" Blaise asked incredulously. "Why would it?"

"Well," Hermione said slowly. She took a rag, dipped it into the water and began to scrub the floor. Blaise quickly followed suit. "I mean…aren't you a bit jealous? After all, Pansy was your Valentine."

Blaise gave a loud snort, which caught the attention of Draco, who glared over at them. "Oh, right. Valentine's Day. I forgot about that. Yeah, she was my date. But only because all of the good girls were already taken."

"Oh." Hermione smiled. She wondered if Pansy knew this.

"Besides, it would never work out between us. She's too much 'in love' with Draco."

"Right," Hermione said coolly, concentrating on a stubborn spot on the floor. "And…how does _he_ feel about _her_, exactly?"

Blaise had to suppress a laugh. He was wondering when Hermione was going to ask him about Draco and Pansy's relationship. He shrugged. "I don't know. He doesn't really talk about his feelings much. I can't see how he could return those feelings, exactly. I mean, Pansy is not exactly the most loveable girl in the world. But, I'm pretty sure he thinks she's hot."

"Oh," Hermione said, hunching her shoulders in what looked like disappointment. Blaise couldn't believe it – Hermione Granger was jealous of Pansy Parkinson's appearance.

"Well for the record, _I_ don't find her to be all that attractive," Blaise said. "I don't really go for the heavily made-up type. I like my girls more natural and down-to-earth. And smart." He added, looking at Hermione when he said this.

Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly at him. He was looking at her funny. Almost as if he had been describing _her_…No. No way. She quickly pushed that thought out of her mind as she went back to scrubbing the floor. In response to what he said, she replied simply, "Well that's nice."

"Yes, it certainly is," he said, giving her a wink.

Beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable, Hermione quickly stood up from the floor, swaying a little as a sudden feeling of dizziness washed over her.

"Are you okay?" Blaise asked, his voice actually containing a bit of concern. He stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her.

"Yeah," Hermione replied lightly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the room had stopped spinning. "It's just low blood sugar, I think. I skipped the feast tonight."

"Oh," Blaise said. "You don't think you're fat, do you?"

This made Hermione chuckle. "No! I don't think I'm fat! I just…wasn't all that hungry tonight. So really, I haven't eaten for…" She proceeded to count the hours on her fingers since she'd eaten last. Once she'd gotten halfway onto the other hand, she said, "Well, let's just say I haven't eaten in a while."

"Ahh." Blaise reached into his robes, searching for something. Finally, he pulled out what looked to be a chocolate bar. "Lucky for you, I always carry one of these around."

"What is it?" Hermione eyed it suspiciously.

"It's not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking," Blaise said. He unwrapped the bar halfway. "It's chocolate. Nothing more than that."

He held it out to her. She went to take it, but instead of him handing it to her, he slowly inched it closer to her mouth, as if he were going to feed it to her. It was a little too weird for Hermione, but as the room began to slightly spin again, she decided to just go for it. She closed her eyes and took a bite.

Her eyes flew open as she heard a crash coming from across the room. Glancing over to the obnoxious couple in charge of decorations, she noticed a fuming Draco had knocked over his bottle of ink, which had then exploded upon impact with the floor.

"Oh, way to go, Draco," Blaise said with an exasperated sigh. "Just add more work for me and Granger why don't you."

Draco glared at his best friend. "What are you even doing in detention, Zabini?"

Blaise grinned. "Well, apparently, it's against school rules to hex first years. Especially in front of Professors."

Pansy gave a haughty laugh. "Were they from Gryffindor?" Blaise nodded, prompting her to squeal and clap her hands together in sheer happiness.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, Zabini, you're here, so I recommend that you do you what you've been told to do, and stop feeding the mudblood. They bite, you know."

Hermione shot Draco a death glare, while Blaise clicked his tongue. "Tsk-tsk, Draco. Now who was it that just threatened me the other day when I used the 'm' word? I do believe it was _you._ You said something along the lines of you would _kill me in my sleep _if I ever referred to Granger like that again?"

Draco's face turned an attractive shade of pink. "I did not. Well, I did, but that was just part of -"

"The prank," Blaise finished for him. "Yeah, yeah. I know that. You were very convincing, by the way, in case I never told you that."

"Drakie!" Pansy whined. "These decorations aren't going to make themselves!"

Draco ignored her. "About as convincing as _you_ are?" he said to Blaise.

Blaise put on his best innocent look. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said coolly.

Draco snorted and looked at Hermione with contempt. "Oh I think you do, Zabini."

"DRAKIE!" Pansy yelled impatiently from across the room. "Get away from the mudblood. You might catch something and give it to _me_." She shuddered.

Hermione wished she had just gone and passed out when she'd had the chance.

"You'd better get back to work, Drakie," Blaise said teasingly.

Draco scowled, but headed back over to the arts-and-crafts table, where Pansy was just finishing up the "Happy Birthday Professor Sprout" banner. Besides the fact Pansy had misspelled both "birthday" and "professor", Draco had to admit it looked halfway decent.

He heard a giggle come from across the room, and he glanced over just in time to see Blaise splash Hermione with a bit of soapy water from his rag. Suddenly, Draco wanted to vomit. Apparently, the only thing that was more nauseating than courting Granger, was watching someone _else_ doing it.

* * *

More than an hour had passed before McGonagall came back into the room. Amazingly, some progress had been made – the room looked a bit cleaner than it had when she'd left, and the sparkly banner looked quite nice hanging from the ceiling. She was actually quite pleased. 

"I'd say you've all done quite enough for the evening," she said.

Draco looked up from the parchment he was currently folding into the shape of a swan. This was the most ridiculous detention he had ever served, and he hated everyone for it. "It's about bloody time," he mumbled. He got up as fast as he could and headed for the door, avoiding Blaise's gaze as we walked by.

"Yeah, really," Pansy said with a yawn. She stopped examining her fingernails and moved to follow Draco out the door. "What a complete waste of detention." She gave McGonagall a nasty look before exiting the room.

"What a lovely girl," McGonagall said sarcastically to no one in particular. She looked at a disheveled Hermione, who was still busy washing one of the windows. "Miss Granger, you may go now. You too, Mr. Zabini."

Blaise looked over at Hermione as she turned around. "Thank you, Professor, for such an enjoyable detention."

"No need to suck up, Mr. Zabini," McGonagall said with a slight smile. She turned to Hermione. "See you in Transfiguration on Monday."

Hermione nodded and McGonagall disappeared out the door.

"Can I walk you to your tower?" Blaise asked.

"No, I'll be fine, thanks," Hermione said, frustratingly blowing at a strand of hair that had fallen in her face. She couldn't help but blush when Blaise reached over gently and tucked the loose strand behind her ear.

"I'll see you later," he said softly, before he too left the room.

All alone now, Hermione began to pick up the cleaning supplies that were left on the floor. As she set them on the table, she picked up the paper swan Draco had been working on and smiled.

"Zabini?" came an irritated voice out of nowhere. Hermione jumped and spun around. Draco was standing in the doorway.

"No, Malfoy. I'm _Granger_, not Zabini," she said with a roll of the eyes.

Draco smirked. "You do realize what he's doing, right? I mean, you're supposed to be all smart."

Hermione shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about Malfoy."

"Don't you? He's using you, Granger. He can have any girl in this school, and he knows it. I'm sure he has some goal to get every girl in Hogwarts into his bed before he graduates, and you just happen to be next on the list. Don't think for a second that he actually likes you."

"I _don't_ think he likes me!" Hermione said heatedly. "He doesn't even know me! And I don't know him! It just turns out that he's not as much of a hotheaded prat like you are, so he's easier to get along with! And if what you are saying is even true, then why are you telling me all of this? I would think you would _love_ to see me get hurt yet again. You enjoyed it so much when _you_ did it. But – _oh yeah_! You _weren't_ just using me! You really had those feelings for me, whether they were caused by a love potion or not, and you cannot bring yourself to admit it! What are you so afraid of, anyway? It's not like I'm asking for your hand in marriage, or asking you to profess your love to me! All I'm asking is…" Her voice trailed off.

"Is _what_, Granger?" Draco said indignantly. "What is it that you want me to do? Acknowledge that I liked you for a couple of days? It was a spell, Granger. It wasn't real."

"I know that, you stupid git! But you can't even bring yourself to admit that for once in your life, you weren't so perfect! You were vulnerable, and you can't stand it. So what do you do? You pretend it was all just some stupid joke you were in on the entire time. What is so wrong in admitting that you were a victim of something you had no control over? What is so wrong in admitting…in admitting that…_you felt something for me._" She regretted saying it immediately after the words left her mouth.

Draco blinked. Well, that was certainly unexpected. If he didn't know any better, he would think maybe Hermione was pleading with him to admit he had feelings for her. But he couldn't do that. So, as usual, he did the one thing he was best at doing: he acted like a jerk.

"You want to know what's _wrong_ with that, mudblood?" he hissed. "I cannot admit I felt something for you, because I_ didn't_. I don't, and I never will. You're a filthy little mudblood who doesn't even deserve to breathe the same air as me. Whatever it was I might have felt for you while under the influence of a love potion, it wasn't real. That person who whispered sweet nothings into your ear, that person who gave you your first kiss…he does not exist; he never did. That person was me all along, no matter what some stupid potion might have made me feel at the time. I hate you with every fiber of my being, Granger, and nothing short of some temporary love potion is ever going to change that."

His words stung harder than anything he had ever said to her before. She shook, trying so hard not to cry, but it was no use. The tears were spilling out before she even had a chance to sob. She racked her brain, trying to come up with any sort of retort, but she was coming up empty. It was no use, anyway. She was pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to speak the words even if she had found them.

Instead, she brushed past Draco and ran out of the classroom as fast as she could. She had promised herself she would shed no tears over Draco Malfoy. Apparently, she had lied.

Draco stood numbly as he watched her go. He couldn't explain the feeling that had suddenly washed over him, but he knew he didn't like it. He'd never seen Hermione get that upset before, and it impacted him greatly – especially since _he_ was the one who had been the cause of those tears. He knew he should be gloating, and feeling like he'd just won the Quidditch World Cup.

Instead, he couldn't help but feel like the biggest loser in the world.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating. I was doing so well there for a while, updating once a week. And then I slacked off big time. BUT this was mainly because I was having a hard time writing _this_ chapter, so I started working on chapter 13 instead. In other words, since most of the next chapter is done, it won't be as long until I update next time. In other news, I have set a goal that I know I will not be able to reach, and that is to get this story done before the release of Half-Blood Prince. I might be able to do it…I don't think I have too much of this story left to write.**

**Thank you all once again for the reviews. I cannot believe this story has gotten over 200 reviews…that's about 190 more than I had expected. :D**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything except the plot. Well actually, this plot has been done so many times before by other people that I can't really say I own _that_ either. Woe is me. :(**

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Hermione woke up Saturday morning with a redheaded girl sitting at the end of her bed.

Ginny was looking at her with concern in her eyes. At first, Hermione wondered why, and then she remembered: she had returned to the Gryffindor common room last night in tears, refusing to talk to anyone, and then she had proceeded to cry herself to sleep. Come to think of it, Hermione's eyes _did_ feel pretty puffy this morning.

"Okay. What happened?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing," Hermione replied, hiding her face in her pillow.

"Don't give me that," Ginny said with some attitude. "You don't usually come storming into the common room bawling your eyes out for no reason."

"I don't want to talk about it," Hermione groaned.

"Do you honestly think I give a damn whether or not you _want_ to talk about it? I'm one of your best friends, Hermione, and I know that you won't talk about it with Ron or Harry. You _need_ to talk to someone about this. Someone who is neutral…like _me_."

"Neutral?" Hermione asked curiously. She sat up.

"Yeah. You know…someone who is not one hundred percent against you being in love with Draco Malfoy."

"Ginny Weasley!" Hermione gasped. "You can't just go throwing around accusations like that!"

"Oh," Ginny said, shaking her head, "that wasn't an accusation. I was stating a fact."

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Would you like me to kick you out of this room?"

"No, but -"

"Then take back what you said about me being in love with Draco Malfoy!"

"I can't, and I won't," Ginny said stubbornly.

Hermione glared at her friend. "Why are being so obnoxious? I am not in love with Draco Malfoy!"

"You are." Ginny paused only a second before continuing, giving Hermione no time to protest. "Look, I've been debating on whether or not I should tell you this. At first, I had decided not to. But then you came home last night and…you were so sad. Of course, I assumed it had something to do with Malfoy, and I'm pretty sure I'm right, aren't I?"

Hermione glanced down sheepishly at her hands and nodded. "What is it that you want to tell me?"

Ginny took a deep breath before proceeding to tell Hermione everything she learned from eavesdropping on Harry and Ron's conversation the previous night. When she was done, Hermione just sat there looking positively horrified.

"No," she said simply, shaking her head. "You obviously heard wrong. Or…or Harry and Ron misunderstood what that barmaid told them…or…"

"Hermione," Ginny said softly. "This makes perfect sense. Admit it. This would explain why, even though you've taken the anti-potion, you're still upset that you're not with him. It would explain why you're so unhappy."

"No," Hermione cried. "It can't be true. I just can't."

"Why not?"

"B-because," Hermione sobbed. "Because M-Malfoy h-hates me. He doesn't love me. He never will. He told me just that last night. So you see, that p-potion can't be accurate, b-because we don't love each other!"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Dear Hermione. Haven't you ever heard of a thing called 'denial'? That's what Malfoy's feeling right now - not hate. And you're in denial too! You need to talk to him."

"No way!" Hermione exclaimed. She jumped out of bed and crossed the room. "I am never talking to that git ever again! I'm through with Draco Malfoy!"

Ginny walked over to Hermione and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hermione, please? Please, just listen to me on this. I honestly think you need to talk with Malfoy and straighten everything out. If he reacts badly, _then_ you can swear off talking to him again. But at least take this one opportunity you have. You may just be surprised by the result."

Hermione hated to admit it, but Ginny was right. Perhaps she should just talk to Malfoy and see what happened. The worst that could happen would be that Malfoy would call her a filthy mudblood and tell her to die – and it's not like she'd never heard that from him before.

"Okay! You know what, Ginny? You are absolutely right! I mean, what do I have to lose? Besides my dignity, of course?"

Ginny smiled. "That's the spirit! So get yourself dressed, and head on down to the dungeons. Try and catch him before breakfast."

"What – right _now_!" Hermione said nervously.

"Yes, right now! There is no time like the present!"

"But -"

"No buts!" Ginny interjected. She made her way across the room. "I'll leave now so you can get dressed and ready. Good luck, Hermione." She turned to leave, but decided to add quickly, "Don't you _dare_ chicken out, or you'll regret it!"

Chickening out sounded like a wonderful idea to Hermione. But sadly, Ginny was right. It was now or never. With a sigh, she began to get ready for her meeting with humiliation.

* * *

Draco woke up the next morning with a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He, of course, had no idea what this feeling was or what it meant. All he knew was that he had started feeling it soon after Granger fled the classroom last night in tears.

It was Saturday, so there was no rush for everyone to get up to head to classes. However, Draco still got up at the time he normally did, largely due to the fact that he was having a hard time sleeping. Unfortunately for him, Pansy was up early too, and she was the first thing to greet him as he entered the common room.

"Drakie!" she squealed, throwing herself at him. Really, she was too much for Draco to handle first thing in the morning.

"Morning, Pansy," he muttered, prying her off. He flung his robes over the side of the couch and sat down, burying his face in his hands.

"What's wrong?" Pansy asked, sitting down beside him. "Does it have anything to do with detention last night? It was absolutely horrid, wasn't it? I can't believe that witch made us set up for a party – one that we're not even attending! The nerve."

Draco felt a shooting pain go through his head, and he really wished Pansy would stop talking. Luckily, Blaise chose this moment to make an appearance in the common room. Although Draco was not thrilled to see him, he was an improvement over Pansy.

"Pansy dearest," Blaise said smoothly. "May I please speak with Draco here for a minute?"

Pansy shrugged. "Sure." She proceeded to study her nails.

"I meant may I speak with him _alone_?"

Pansy rolled her eyes and looked annoyed. "Fine. Whatever," she mumbled. She got up and wandered off.

When she was out of earshot, Blaise said, "Oh man, you're not looking very well today. What's wrong?"

Draco considered ignoring him, but decided against it. He actually wanted someone to talk to. "I think I'm dying," he replied, looking up at Blaise. "I've had this horrible feeling in my stomach since last night."

Blaise nodded. "It was probably the pumpkin pasties. They tasted a little funny…"

"No," Draco said, shaking his head. "I don't feel sick, I feel…well, I don't know what I feel. It's a hard feeling to explain. I've never experienced it before."

Blaise studied his friend's face for a moment before realization dawned on him. "Oh wait – does this have anything to do with Granger?"

"No!" Draco said defensively. "Why in the bloody hell would it have to do with her?"

"Well, let's see. You've had a horrible feeling in your stomach ever since last night. We had detention last night. And I saw you go back into that classroom after we left." He sighed. "Okay, Draco, what did you say to her?"

"Nothing!" Draco yelled. "Absolutely nothing! This has nothing to do with Granger!"

Blaise narrowed his eyes at him.

Draco sighed in defeat. "Okay. So it _does_ have to do with Granger. I guess last night I was kind of…I don't know…mean to her."

"And when have you _not_ been mean to her?" Blaise asked.

"Good point. But this time was different. She was upset and I think I really hurt her feelings."

"And this makes you feel bad?"

"No!" Draco exclaimed. "Well, I guess maybe a little."

Blaise smiled. "Wow. Draco, mate – you _are_ human after all. That horrible feeling in your stomach is guilt. You feel guilty about hurting Granger's feelings. And you should. You know, she's actually a very nice girl once you get to know her. I don't see why you hate her so much."

Draco groaned and got up from the couch. "I hate her because she is a filthy mudblood and -"

"Ugh. The 'filthy mudblood' insult again. You know, Draco, if you don't start coming up with a new reason to hate Granger, I'm going to start to think maybe you don't hate her at all." Blaise stood up. "I'm hungry. Let's go to breakfast."

Reluctantly, Draco followed his friend out of the common room, leaving Pansy behind.

"Wait up, you guys!" she squealed, but the boys ignored her. She pouted and stomped her foot. "_Men._" She started to follow them out, but noticed that Draco had left his robes behind on the couch. Deciding it would be nice of her to bring them to him, she picked them up from the couch. The minute she did, something fell out onto the floor – a little box.

"Hmm, what's this?" Pansy pondered aloud. She bent down and picked the box up from the floor. Examining it, she came to the conclusion it was a jewelry box. This realization hit her hard and she squealed. Draco must have bought her a piece of jewelry! Quickly, she opened the box and gasped at what was inside - a white gold ring with a pear-shaped sapphire gem. Her jaw dropped.

"Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, oh Merlin! Drakie bought me a ring!" she screeched. She wasted no time taking it out of the ring box and placing it on her finger. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. And it was hers! She was so excited. She tossed his robes back on the couch and hurried out of the common room. She couldn't wait to go thank her Drakiekins.

* * *

Hermione stood in front of the Slytherin common room and took a deep breath. She was receiving odd looks from the portrait that guarded the door, but she ignored it. She wanted so much to turn and run the other way. In fact, she had started to when the common room door flew open.

"Mudblood?" came a voice that vaguely sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Parkinson.

Hermione spun around. "Pansy. So nice to see you," she said, not sounding sincere in the least. "Is Draco around?"

Pansy glared at her. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I want to talk to him."

"Well he doesn't want to talk to _you_," Pansy said snottily.

Hermione gritted her teeth. "Can you at least go _ask_ him if he wants to talk with me or not?"

"No," Pansy replied.

"Bitch," Hermione muttered under her breath.

"What did you just say?"

"I said _'thanks anyway'_."

"You're welcome," Pansy said. She proceeded to twirl a strand of hair around her finger. "Is there anything else I can do for you? Or are you done polluting these halls with your mudblood filth? I have places to be."

Hermione was about to retort when her eyes landed on the hand Pansy was using to twirl her hair. Something about her hand looked familiar - _very_ familiar.

She stopped breathing for a second. She squinted her eyes to see it clearer…not that she needed any more confirmation. She could recognize that ring from a mile away. When she finally regained her composure, she said slowly, "That's a nice ring you've got there, Pansy."

Pansy grinned. "I know. Isn't it the most beautiful ring you've ever seen? Drakie gave it to me!" She shoved her hand in front of Hermione's face to give her a better look. But Hermione closed her eyes.

"How lovely," she said flatly. She turned on her heel and walked away from Pansy as quickly as possible.

_That sonofabitch!_ She thought to herself angrily as she stormed through the hallways. It's not as if she had expected him to keep the ring himself, or even try to give it back to her. But to give it to _Pansy Parkinson_? That was just low! It was low and rude and tactless and…low. _UGGGHHH! _she screamed really loudly in her head.

She made her way blindly through the hallways and eventually found herself outside of the Great Hall. She stormed past Harry and Ron, who called out to her as she passed by, and headed straight for the small group of Slytherins huddled over near the corner of the hallway.

Blaise saw her approaching and put on his most charming smile. "Well hello there, Granger. What brings you by?"

Hermione ignored him and stopped right in front of Draco, who was looking at her curiously. She only hesitated a brief moment before slapping him across the face, as hard as she could.

"OW!" he bellowed, touching his hand to the spot where hers had just made contact. "DAMMIT! Granger, what the fuck was that for?"

"Do I even need to have a reason?" she asked coolly. "I just felt like doing it, you stupid, arrogant prat!" She was being childish and she knew it. But she didn't care. She glanced over at an amused Blaise. Quickly, she turned around and left to go search for Harry and Ron.

This was the second time this week she had hit Draco Malfoy, but for some reason, it was less enjoyable than the last time. _He deserved it_, she assured herself. She couldn't get the vision out of her head of Pansy wearing _her_ ring.

Ginny, who had witnessed the whole thing, ran over to her. "Hermione!" she said, frowning.

"Our talk didn't go so well," Hermione said with a chuckle that soon turned into a sob.

Ginny gave her a sympathetic smile and a pat on the back. "I think maybe it's time for you to get over Draco Malfoy."

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	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Author's Note: My quickest update yet. :D**

**Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter. Just kidding. I don't.**

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Draco was in a foul mood for the rest of the day. This was the second time this week he had been hit by Hermione Granger, and in front of his friends no less. His once perfect reputation was slowly disintegrating until eventually he'd be as cool as Neville Longbottom. This did not please him in the least.

"Whatever you said to her last night must have made a lasting impression," Blaise said with a chuckle. They were making their way down to the Quidditch field for some early evening unofficial Quidditch practice.

Draco glared at him. "There was no need for her to hit me. If she had wanted to hit me for what I said last night, she would have done it then. I think she's just gone mad."

"That's a possibility I suppose," Blaise agreed.

Making their way onto the field, the two boys were greeted by a few other Slytherins, including Pansy Parkinson. As soon as Draco saw her, he groaned and attempted to walk away before she noticed him. However, he just wasn't quick enough.

"DRAKIE!" Pansy screeched. She ran over to them as quickly as her legs could carry her. "Drakie, I have been looking for you all day! Where have you been?"

"I was everywhere you weren't," Draco muttered.

Pansy giggled. "You are so funny, Draco! Anyway, I've been looking everywhere for you, because I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Draco said quizzically. "For what?"

"For this!" she exclaimed, holding her right hand out for him to see. Blaise looked at it with slight interest, while all of the color drained from Draco's face.

"Pansy," he said slowly, trying to stay calm. "Where did you get that ring?"

"It fell out of your robes! It's so beautiful! I can't believe you would buy something this wonderful for me! Well, I mean, I _do _believe it because, let's face it – I'm worth it. But I was just so pleasantly surprised and -"

"Pansy, shut up," Draco growled. "I didn't give you that ring."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know that. It fell out of your robes, remember? But it was for me." It wasn't a question; she was stating it more like a fact.

"No, Pansy. It _wasn't_ for you."

Blaise tried hard to stifle a laugh. "Boy, this is embarrassing."

Pansy scowled at him and turned back to Draco. "What do you mean it wasn't for me? Who else would it be for?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, and then Pansy shrieked, "NO! NO WAY! It was for the mudblood, WASN'T IT?"

Draco glanced around at the other Slytherins on the field, who were now listening in on their conversation. "Pansy," he hissed, "keep your voice down, will you?"

"I WILL NOT KEEP MY VOICE DOWN!" she screamed. She took the ring off her finger and threw it at Draco. She missed, and it landed on the ground in back of him. "You had the gall to give me a ring that you were originally going to give to a MUDBLOOD?"

"Pansy," Blaise butted in. "I think you are completely missing the point here. He was _never_ going to give you that ring."

"WHATEVER! Draco Malfoy, I never want to speak to you again! You stupid…horrible…person, you!" And with that, Pansy stomped off.

"Wow, it's your lucky day," Blaise said, bending down to pick up the ring. "Pansy Parkinson just told you she is never going to speak to you again. I wonder what _I_ could do to make her say the same thing to me…"

Draco didn't respond. He took the ring from Blaise's hand and shoved it into his pocket.

"Want to tell me about that ring, mate?" Blaise asked as they continued further onto the field.

"Not really," Draco mumbled, but gave in and continued anyway. "My mother gave me that ring. She told me to one day give it to the woman I loved. And I gave it to Granger when I was under the influence of that stupid love potion. And she gave it back to me after we took the _anti_-potion. More accurately, she _threw_ it at me just like Pansy did. Only her aim was better."

Blaise grinned. "Man, your life is like a bad romantic comedy, with not a whole lot of romance _or_ comedy."

Draco frowned as realization dawned on him. "So _that's _why Granger hit me earlier. She must have seen Pansy traipsing around the school wearing the ring I had given to _her_."

Blaise stared at him. "You know, Draco, if I didn't know any better, I would say maybe you feel a little bad about that."

Draco snorted. "Yeah, right! Like I give a damn. This is mudblood Granger we're talking about here!" Blaise just shrugged and walked off, leaving Draco to think. And the more he thought, the more he realized that Blaise had actually gotten the right impression. Thinking about what must have been going through Hermione's mind when she'd seen her ring on Pansy's finger made his stomach feel all iffy again.

Merlin...what the hell was happening to him?

* * *

"Wow…she was wearing the ring _he_ gave _you_ on _her_ finger?" Ginny said in disbelief. "That's just low!" 

Hermione blew her nose. "I know! My thoughts exactly! Lousy ferret."

"Aww." Ginny gave her friend a gentle pat on the back. "You're not going to get over him anytime soon, are you?"

"There is nothing to get over!" Hermione yelled. She knew she was lying.

Ginny sighed. "I'll tell you what. I don't believe in giving up on love so easily. That's why I've had a crush on Harry for so many years." She gave a wink, grinned, and then continued. "I say let's give this one more shot. Since you didn't _actually_ get to talk with him earlier, do it now. Don't give up until you find out exactly how he feels."

"I _know_ how he feels!" Hermione exclaimed. "He loves Pansy! He gave her that ring!"

Ginny clucked her tongue. "Nonsense. Can you honestly see any sane human being loving Pansy Parkinson? If anything, he did it to make you jealous."

Hermione sniffled. "Jealous? You think so?"

"Mmhmm," Ginny said matter-of-factly. "I've seen you talking with Blaise Zabini a lot in the hallways, and I'll bet you anything that Malfoy has seen it too. And he's probably jealous."

Hermione considered that possibility for a moment, but shook her head. "No. He wouldn't be jealous. He hates me!"

"Then talk to him! Have him tell you one last time that he hates you! If he does, then you will have a wonderful reason to move on and put this whole fiasco behind you. But if he _doesn't_ then…well, then it will be the beginning of a -"

"Beautiful friendship?" Hermione asked.

"Actually, I was going to say a 'hot and heavy relationship', but…I guess beautiful friendship could work too." Ginny grinned. "Now go talk to him."

Hermione could not believe that for the second time today, she was letting Ginny talk her into doing something as ridiculous as having a civilized conversation with Draco Malfoy. But she was going to do it this time. Mainly because she was afraid of what Ginny would do to her if she didn't.

* * *

As Hermione headed down to the Quidditch field (she had to bribe Crabbe with a cupcake to tell her where Malfoy was), she had a lot of time to think. Could Ginny be right about Malfoy being jealous? No, Hermione assured herself. What was there to be jealous of? All she had done with Blaise Zabini in the hallways this week was _talk _to him. That wasn't enough to make anyone jealous – especially Malfoy, who hated her guts. But…he _did_ seem angrier than usual, and his grumpiness _did_ seem to become worse around the same time Blaise had started talking to her… 

She was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice she had stepped onto the Quidditch field.

"Gryffindor alert!" one of the Slytherins yelled.

Hermione snapped back to reality and glanced up at the boys who were flying around on their broomsticks, just fooling around. Amongst them were both Draco and Blaise.

"Granger!" Blaise called out. He gave her a pleasant smile and waved.

She smiled and waved back. "I don't mean to interrupt," she called back, "but could I see you for a minute, Blaise?" _Blaise_? _Wait...why did I just say Blaise? I'm here to talk to Malfoy..._ She shook her head in confusion. She had no idea what she was doing. Actually, she knew perfectly well what she was doing. She just didn't know _why_ she was going to do it.

"Sure," Blaise replied. He dismounted his broom, as did Draco.

"Zabini, what are you doing?" Draco hissed. He gave Hermione a cold glare. "We're in the middle of practice."

"It's not even real practice, Draco, we're just fooling around with the Quidditch equipment," Blaise pointed out. "I'll only be a second." He jogged over to where Hermione was standing. "What's up?"

Hermione nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Well, I…I wanted to…I mean…there's something I need to know."

Blaise looked at her with an expression that was a mix between amusement and curiousity. "Okay. Well, I'm all ears. What is it that you need to know?"

Hermione bit her lip and glanced over at Draco, who was trying hard to pretend not to be watching them, but was doing a lousy job of it. It was now or never. Before she could stop herself, Hermione grabbed the front of Blaise's shirt and pulled him towards her…and planted a big kiss on his lips.

At first, Blaise did not respond, due to complete shock, but he soon got over it and kissed her back Hermione was relieved that he didn't immediately shove her away, but at the same time she was mentally slapping herself for doing this in the first place. From what she could tell, Blaise was a good kisser, but she couldn't help but think he just wasn't as good as Draco…

They remained kissing for a few seconds later, until they heard a voice in the background yell, "Malfoy, watch out!" followed by a shout.

Hermione immediately pulled away from Blaise. They looked at each other for a brief second in surprise, but quickly averted their attention to the commotion that was coming from the field. Hermione gasped when she saw Draco lying flat on his back on the ground. "DRACO!" she screamed.

She ran over to him and shooed away a couple of the Slytherins who had gathered around him. He was out cold, and had a nasty mark on his forehead. "What happened?" she asked, a feeling of panic rising in her stomach.

"I'm not sure," one of the boys said with a shrug. "From what I could see, he wasn't paying attention, and the bludger headed straight for him. I tried to warn him, but it was too late. It hit him right in the head."

Hermione gulped. Those bludgers were nasty little things…and not too soft, either. She lightly shook Draco's shoulder. "Draco! Draco, wake up!"

At first he didn't respond. But after a few shakes, he groaned slightly, and Hermione was relieved to see he was at least still alive. He opened his eyes a bit and glanced up at her. "Granger? What the hell? You hit me again."

"What?" she said in confusion. She thought at first that he was referring to earlier, but then quickly realized that he thought she was to blame for knocking him out. "Oh! Oh, no! I didn't hit you this time! You've been hit by a bludger, that's all," she informed him. "You're going to be okay." She turned to Blaise. "Help me get him up."

Blaise obliged, grabbing a hold of one of Draco's arms and pulled with ease until Draco was standing.

Draco brought his hand to his forehead. "Bloody hell," he said, grimacing.

"We need to get him to the hospital wing," Hermione said to Blaise.

"Good idea," Blaise nodded. "You should take him."

"Me?" Hermione said. "_You're_ his friend."

Blaise smiled. "That doesn't mean much to Slytherins, Granger. Besides, I really have to get back to practice. I'm sure you'll manage just fine." He winked. And before she could protest, he ran back to the field and hopped onto his broom.

"Dammit," Hermione muttered. She turned to Draco. "How does your head feel?"

"Like it just got split open and my brain is about to ooze out." Draco replied in a strained voice. "And I feel like I'm dying," he added for dramatic effect.

"Oh stop being such a baby." Hermione looked closely at his wound. "Well nothing is oozing out yet. And it doesn't appear to me that you're dying, so...come on." She placed her arm around his shoulder for support. "Let's get you to the hospital wing and let Madame Pomfrey take a look at it."

Draco pulled away from her. "I can manage just fine on my own, Granger. I don't need help from you." He stumbled slightly.

Hermione wanted nothing more than to just say "Fine!" and storm off. But he could have gotten a concussion from this, and if he passed out on the way to the hospital wing, he might not wake up, and by the time somebody found him, he'd already be in a coma and it would be too late. Call her crazy, but she didn't want that to happen.

"Well suck it up and deal with it – I am helping you whether you like it or not!" she said in exasperation. She grabbed onto him again and began to lead him back towards the castle.

* * *

The long trek to the hospital wing was an uncomfortable one, since neither Hermione nor Draco really wanted to speak to one another. Once they had finally reached their destination, a great relief washed over Hermione. She never thought she'd be so happy to see the hospital wing. 

"Madame Pomfrey?" she called out into the dark, empty room. Madame Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen, and the hospital wing was eerily quiet. "Hm. She must have gone to the birthday party for Professor Sprout."

"Bloody fantastic," Draco said in a strained voice. He was grasping his forehead as if he thought that if he let go, it would explode.

Hermione sighed. "Sit," she demanded, pointing to one of the many empty beds.

Draco looked at her incredulously. "You expect _me_ to take orders from a mudbl -"

Hermione glared at him, and surprisingly he shut up and did as he was told. To be honest, his head hurt too much to do otherwise.

"Okay." Hermione glanced around the room looking for anything she could use to help ease Draco's pain. Although, she was wondering why she was even bothering, considering everything he had put her through. The git deserved to suffer.

After a few seconds of brainstorming, she finally decided on the simplest remedy: ice. However, she was unable to find any just lying around, so she settled on drenching a cloth in water and performing a simple freezing spell on it.

"Here," she said, bringing the frozen cloth over to him. "This isn't going to cure you, but it will help until Madame Pomfrey comes back." She gently placed the cloth against Draco's forehead.

"Agh!" he hissed, pulling away from it. "That's bloody cold, Granger."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, it _is_ ice, Malfoy. It will help numb the pain, and will make the swelling go down a bit." With that, she decided to examine his injury a little better. "Gosh, you're lucky that bludger didn't split your head open. What was wrong with you out there? You normally have better reflexes than that."

"I got distracted," he grumbled.

"What could possibly have distracted you so much that you would miss a bludger coming straight at you?" she asked nonchalantly.

Draco glared at her. "Oh that's right. You weren't even paying attention to what was going on, were you?. You were too busy snogging Zabini senseless."

Hermione gulped and feigned surprise. "You…you saw that?"

"Yeah, I saw that. Right before the bludger practically took my head off," Draco replied, avoiding her gaze.

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. So her little plan _had_ worked…a little _too_ well, actually. She had hoped to kiss Blaise and make Draco jealous – or, at least to_ see_ if it would make him jealous. Instead, she'd kissed Blaise and almost got Draco seriously injured. Not exactly what she'd had in mind.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, suddenly feeling terrible. She tried once again to place the frozen cloth against his forehead. This time, he did not move away.

"For what? _You_ weren't the one who sent the bludger after me, were you?" Draco's face showed a slight hint of a smile. Hermione chuckled softly, shaking her head.

"Do you know how many times I've been hit this week, Granger? And this was the first time it wasn't by _you_."

Hermione couldn't help but giggle at this interesting fact. "Well, you're welcome," she said with a grin.

Before he could stop himself, Draco returned the grin. "I didn't thank you." His smile slowly faded, but he did not take his eyes off of hers.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, her heart rate accelerating slightly.

"Nothing," Draco said softly, clearing his throat. "Nothing, it's just…nobody has ever…I don't know…taken care of me before. This is weird."

Hermione frowned. "What do you mean nobody has taken care of you before? Your parents…?"

Draco shook his head and laughed. "Are you kidding me? My parents are the last two people on earth who would ever take care of me. I am a Malfoy, Granger. We do not show weakness. And we do not need others to take care of us." With that said, he reached up and gently grabbed Hermione's hand, pushing it away.

Hermione resisted. "That's so sad," she whispered.

"No, it's not," Draco said flatly. "That's just the way things are. And I don't need your sympathy, Granger. Nor do I _want_ it either."

She considered snapping at him, telling him that giving him sympathy was the _last_ thing she would ever consider doing. Instead, before she could stop herself, she leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. It took them both by surprise, and when she pulled away, she looked at him with a bit of fear in her eyes, as if she were expecting him to lash out at her. Instead, Draco slipped the hand that had been holding her wrist around her neck and slowly pulled her forward. Before either one knew what was happening, they were kissing.

There was a slight hesitation on both parts as soon as their lips touched, but it didn't last long. Draco wasted no time in deepening the kiss, making Hermione so weak in the knees that she could barely remain standing. Luckily, Draco seemed to notice this and quickly wrapped a strong arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. Hermione sighed. She didn't realize until this very moment how much she enjoyed this…and how much she had been missing it.

One thing led to another and suddenly Hermione found herself lying on the hospital bed with Draco directly above her, never breaking their kiss. Oh bloody hell…what was happening here? Things were moving kind of fast. Or _were_ they? Somehow, this felt so right…yet so wrong at the same time. They were in the hospital wing and anyone could walk in at any moment. And what they were doing…what did it mean, anyway? Hermione was so confused.

"Draco," she whispered, placing a hand on his chest.

Hearing her speak his name seemed to snap him out of a trance. He immediately pulled away and jumped off the bed, as if he had just been burned…or as if the realization about what it was they were just doing had suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. He stared at her in shock, and she matched that look with her own shock. They were both desperately trying to catch their breath and slow their heartbeats.

"I…I…we…that…" Draco stammered. He began to back away. "I-I have to…go…now." He turned to leave but stopped by the door. Turning around to face her, he said softly. "Um, thanks. Er, for the ice. That was…" At a loss for words, he quickly exited the hospital wing.

At first, Hermione was at a loss for words as well, but quickly snapped back to reality. "Wait!" she called after him. "You need to have Madame Pomfrey look at your injury!" But she knew he was long gone and wouldn't have heard her.

She sat on the edge of the bed and absent-mindedly brought her fingers up to her lips, where Draco's had been just a moment ago. Still in shock over what had just occurred, she didn't even notice when Madame Pomfrey came pransing into the room, cheerfully humming the Happy Birthday tune. She stopped short when she saw Hermione on the bed.

"Oh, Miss Granger! I didn't see you there! Are you alright, child?" she asked, seeing Hermione's dazed expression. "You look as though you've just been Petrified! What happened?"

Hermione looked up at Madame Pomfrey and said, "I…I...honestly, I have no idea."

* * *

**Author's Note #2: **I have just realized that Harry and Ron have pretty much gone missing from this story. This has not been intentional; I've just forgotten to add them in. :D However, I do promise to put them back in later in the story. Perhaps in the next chapter, if I remember. :)  



	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Author's Note: Guess what? There is no way I am going to reach my goal of finishing this story before the release of HBP!**

**Thanks for all the reviews, you guys. hugs for everyone**

**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. In fact, I do not even own this story at all. I stole it from a chimp's laptop. So if you've been reading this story all along and thinking, "This is so lame – a chimp could have written it!" Well then…you were right all along.**

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* * *

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When Blaise entered the common room later that night, Draco was staring at the wall. Entertaining the possibility that there was something interesting about the wall that only Draco could see, Blaise decided not to question him about it. Instead, he said, "Ouch, man. You've got a bruise on your head the size of England."

Turning his attention away from the wall, Draco responded with a death glare aimed at Blaise.

"Whoa," Blaise said, raising his arms in defense. "Why do I suddenly feel like you want to kill me?"

Draco softened his expression a bit. "I don't want to kill you," he mumbled. "I just want to hurt you a little."

"What?" Blaise said, leaning in closer.

"Nothing." Draco sighed and buried his head in his hands. One second later, though, he raised his head and said, "No, wait, I said I want to hurt you a little."

Blaise snorted and took a seat on the couch across from him. "Yeah, that's what I thought I had heard. And why do you want to hurt me so badly?"

"Because! You left during Quidditch practice to go make out with Granger. If snogging is more important to you than Quidditch, then why don't you just quit the team?"

Blaise narrowed his eyes at him. "So what bothers you more about that? The fact I took a two-minute break from practice, or the fact that I took a two-minute break to kiss Granger?"

"Forget it," Draco said. He stood up from the couch and swayed a little.

"Hey," Blaise said, quickly standing to help steady his friend. "Are you okay? What did Madame Pomfrey say about your injury?"

"She didn't say anything," Draco said lightly. "She wasn't even around when we got there. Granger iced it, that's all." He decided to leave out the part about kissing her afterwards.

Blaise actually looked a little concerned. "Well that was a nasty blow you received. You really need to get Pomfrey to look at it. We don't want to take any chances of you going into a coma."

Draco scoffed. "You sound just like Granger."

"Granger's a smart girl," Blaise said. And as an afterthought, he added, "Good kisser, too." He smiled and pretended not to notice the scowl Draco had given him.

"Now let's get you up to the hospital wing."

* * *

After dropping Draco off with Madame Pomfrey, Blaise had the sudden urge to find Hermione. He hadn't seen or spoken to her since their little kiss out on the Quidditch field, and he either wanted to talk to her about it, or maybe even pick up where they'd left off. So, he headed for the one place he knew she would be on a Saturday night: the library. 

Sure enough, that is exactly where he found her. Only _Granger_ would forego hanging out with her friends on a Saturday night to chill with some ancient, dusty books. She was sitting at a table over in the far corner, reading a book. It must not have been a very interesting one, though, because it appeared as though she was just staring blankly at the pages.

"Lost in a good book?" he said.

Hermione jumped at the sound of his voice, most likely not having expected anyone besides her to enter the library that late at night. "Blaise!" she exclaimed with a slight smile. "You scared me."

"I apologize," he said, pulling out a chair on the opposite side of the table and taking a seat. "What are you reading?" he asked, motioning to the book that lay out before her.

"Um…" She closed it to see what the title was. "_Potions Through the Ages – A Guide to Nearly Every Potion Ever Made._"

"Sounds fascinating. Reading about any good love potions?" Blaise grinned.

Hermione blushed and shoved the book aside. "Just doing some research," she mumbled. She stared down at her hands. "So…um…have you seen Malfoy yet?"

"Yup," Blaise replied, leaning back in his chair. "Just dropped him off in the hospital wing."

Hermione's eyes widened. "What's wrong?" she asked, most likely trying to hide the fact that she was worried.

Blaise shrugged. "He told me that he hadn't seen Madame Pomfrey, and I thought he should really get his head checked out, just to be on the safe side." He raised an eyebrow. "So if you two weren't busy having Draco's injury looked at, then what exactly _were_ you two doing?"

Hermione blushed even harder this time, and cleared her throat. "Hm. Would you look at the time?" she said, beginning to gather up her things. "It's past my bedtime."

She started to get up from her chair, but Blaise stopped her by grabbing her wrist. "Wait," he said softly. "I came here to talk to you."

"Talk?" Hermione said nervously. "About what?"

"Oh, I don't know," Blaise replied. "I thought maybe we could talk about the weather…about how we can't seem to get a decent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher…about how annoying Pansy is…and then, if we have any time left, I thought maybe we could talk about how you kissed me earlier."

Hermione gulped. "Oh. You wanted to talk about that?"

"Yeah, Granger, I wanted to talk about _that._" Blaise sighed. Looking at Hermione right now, he realized that she was actually quite pretty…which was going to make this even harder for him to say. "Look, Granger, I like you. Probably a little more than I _should_, given the circumstances. But…I know why you kissed me earlier. You did it to make Draco jealous. And I have to say, I think it worked."

Hermione's heart skipped a beat. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, Draco seems to hate my guts more than ever now." He chuckled. "Our friendship was pretty solid until you came into our lives."

Hermione blushed and opened her mouth to apologize, but Blaise continued before she could speak. "I'm joking," he said. "Well, actually, I'm not _entirely_ joking. But either way, you don't have to apologize. It's Draco's fault for being such an ignorant bloke. And I suppose it's my fault as well, for trying to get him all riled up. He'll get over it. But let me ask you…on the Quidditch field…when you kissed me…did you…you know, _feel_ anything? Or was it strictly business?"

He looked at her almost shyly, and Hermione couldn't help but think it was kind of cute. The second-most popular Slytherin (Draco being first, of course) at Hogwarts was asking the mudblood bookworm if she'd felt anything from the kiss they'd shared…as if maybe he was hoping she would say yes. And while her answer wasn't necessarily yes, it certainly wasn't _no_, either.

"It was a nice kiss, Blaise," she admitted, with a small smile.

Blaise grinned triumphantly. "Well, of course it was. I don't give _bad_ kisses, Granger." He gazed into her eyes for a moment before saying softly, "But I'm not Draco, am I?"

"Hmm?" Hermione said, feigning confusion.

Blaise got up from his chair and walked around the table to take a seat next to Hermione. "Don't play dumb, Granger. I know you've got a thing for Draco. You can admit it to me – I won't tell anyone."

"I don't -" Hermione tried to protest, but was cut off by Blaise, who placed a hand on her shoulder and widened his grin.

"You do," he teased. "You totally do. It's so obvious. You're in love with Draco Malfoy."

Hermione blushed furiously. "Shh!" she hissed. "I am not in love with Malfoy."

"Yes, you are! You are, you are, you are," Blaise continued in a singsong voice.

"Shut up," she demanded, rolling her eyes.

"Fine," Blaise said. "I will shut up under one condition."

"Oh yeah?" Hermione said, raising an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

Blaise's smile faded slightly. He leaned in closer to her. "You give me one for the road," he said softly.

Before Hermione could inquire as to what he meant by that, he captured her lips with his own, picking up where they had left off earlier on the Quidditch field.

Hermione hated to admit that she somewhat enjoyed kissing Blaise. The only person she had to compare him to was Draco, but she could tell he was skilled and knew what he was doing. However, as much as she didn't mind kissing him, she just couldn't bring herself to _feel_ anything. His kisses were sweet and nice…but they didn't make her feel all weak in the knees like Draco's.

Once again, their kiss was interrupted; this time, by the sound of the library door slamming shut. They instinctively jumped apart.

"What was that?" Hermione asked, looking toward the entrance to the library. Nobody was there.

"That was a kiss, Granger," Blaise said teasingly.

"I know that, Zabini. I was talking about the noise."

"And I knew _that_, Granger." Blaise chuckled. "It was probably just Peeves wrecking havoc or something."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Hermione sighed. Avoiding Blaise's gaze, she said, "Look…Blaise…I…"

"No need to say anything, Granger," Blaise said. He stood up from the table. "I know where your true feelings lie, and they are nowhere near me. That's okay – I accept that. I just…you know…"

"One for the road," Hermione said.

"You got it." He smiled and winked. "Well, I think I'll get going now. I'm glad we had this talk."

Hermione chuckled softly. "Goodnight, Blaise."

"Goodnight, Hermione." With that, Blaise made his exit, leaving Hermione alone to ponder.

She sighed and sat back in her chair. What she wanted to know was, if it was so _obvious_ that she was in love with Draco…then why hadn't _she_ noticed it yet?

* * *

_Ten Minutes Earlier…_

Draco emerged from the hospital wing completely cured. Madame Pomfrey had taken one look at him and scolded him for not having come in sooner. Under normal circumstances, he would have said something to the fact that he _had_ come in sooner, and that she hadn't been there, like she should have been…and that his father could have her fired for that. But he really wasn't in the mood to be a jerk anymore tonight. Besides, he had a lot on his mind.

Like, for instance, Granger. Oh, how he hated it when she took up residence in his mind. Such a waste of thought. Yet, sometimes she was impossible to get out. He could understand why she was _tonight_. Probably had something to do with the fact that he had nearly snogged her brains out just a short while ago in the hospital wing. Ugh. Just thinking about it made him queasy. He needed to get something else on his mind; something that had absolutely nothing to do with the mudblood.

The library. He hadn't been to the library in a while. Perhaps he could find a good book to read. Oh, who was he kidding? He didn't want to read a book. Odds were good that Granger was there, and he knew it. So why did he suddenly want to go so bad? To tease her? Taunt her? Remind her of how bad a kisser she is? Draco smiled at the thought. Yes, that is _exactly_ why he wanted to see Granger. He wanted to make her feel bad. Yes, that was the only reason. He certainly didn't want to see her because he couldn't get that kiss out of his mind! No way! That was not the reason at all!

Actually, that_ was_ the real reason, but there was no way he was ever going to admit that to anyone, not even to himself. And _certainly_ not Granger, of all people.

So, instead of heading back to the common room, Draco headed straight for the library. On the way, he began to construct the perfect insults inside his head, to use on Granger. Some of them were pretty good, and he couldn't wait to use them on her. Of course, they all included the words "mudblood", "bushy-haired", "bookworm" and "insufferable know-it-all". In other words, they were not original at all. But that didn't matter to Draco, just so long as he could make her cry…or at least glare at him intensely.

By the time Draco had arrived at the library, he was feeling pretty optimistic. He really hoped that she was there, or else all this planning would go to waste. But of course she would be there. After all, it was a Saturday night, and if there was one place Granger loved to be on a Saturday night, it was the library.

Quietly, he pushed open the door. He had never really liked the library much during the day, but he liked it even less during the evening. For one thing, it was a lot darker, therefore not as nice for reading. Also, since nobody with even half a social life even _thought_ to go to the library this late at night, it was always so empty and eerily quiet. At least, that's what Draco figured. He didn't really know for a fact, since he'd never made it a habit to hang out at the library…ever.

Sure enough, he was right, though. What he saw when the door opened was dim light and a lack of people. Except, of course, for Granger. Right away, Draco spotted her at a table over in the far corner. But she wasn't alone. Draco narrowed his eyes. Zabini was with her.

They were too far away to be able to hear their conversation, and he certainly did not want to move ahead any further, for fear that they might see him. So, he stood there watching them; annoyance starting to build up inside of him.

Zabini was leaning across the table, grinning at her and saying something. Whatever it was, Draco figured it was flirtatious. Stupid git. He'd flirt with just about anyone if he thought they'd fall for it. And judging from Granger's embarrassed expression, Draco figured she was about to break her neck when she landed on the ground. He mumbled a bad word under his breath.

This was a stupid idea, he decided. Surely there was something more entertaining to do on a Saturday night than stand there and watch his best friend put the moves on a mudblood. Perhaps he could go bang his head against the wall fifty times. That might be more fun. He took a step back, closer to the exit, but stopped when he saw Zabini get out of his chair and walk around the table. Oh hell. What was he doing now? He watched as Blaise put his hand on Granger's shoulder…as he leaned in closer and spoke to her…as he…kissed her.

Draco's breath caught in his throat. Zabini had just kissed Granger, and Granger was not pulling away. Was she? Draco squinted to see better. No – she wasn't pulling away. Rather, she was kissing him back! This was too much for Draco to handle. Really, watching purebloods make out with mudbloods was disgusting. Quickly, he turned on his heel, went out the door, and slammed it rather loudly (on accident of course, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was angry, because he wasn't at all).

"Stupid mudblood bitch," he muttered as he began his brisk walk to the Slytherin common room. "Filthy, stupid, whorish mudblood. Making out with a Slytherin. And in the library, no less. What would Scarhead and the Weasel say about that? They think you're so sweet and innocent. But no – you're just a filthy little mudblood whore, that's what you are." He continued to talk to himself, muttering insult after insult, directed at both Hermione and Blaise.

He could not believe he had just witnessed them…_kissing._ Granted, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, given the fact that he had just seen them kiss earlier. But…that was before _Draco_ kissed her in the hospital wing. Wait…no…_he_ didn't kiss _her_. It was the other way around. Or, well, okay, they actually had kissed each other at the same time. And kissed. And kissed. And kissed. And then…Oh Merlin. Draco suddenly found himself wanting to hit a wall with his fist. Or, Zabini's face. Either one would suffice, really.

Draco was too caught up in his anger to notice a group of Slytherin girls walking toward him, whispering and giggling amongst themselves, and he bumped right into them.

"Oh!" cried out the girl who'd received most of the bump. She stumbled a bit, but quickly regained her composer, seeing that it was Draco Malfoy who'd run into her. She flashed her pearly whites and said sweetly, "Pardon me!"

"Sorry," Draco mumbled. He glanced up at the girl. He recognized her as being one of the Fifth Years. Cute girl. Nice figure. Kind of dumb. Draco's type.

"Oh, don't apologize," the girl said. She held out her hand. "My name is Sadie."

Draco reluctantly took her hand and shook it. "I'm -"

"Draco Malfoy!" Sadie said enthusiastically. "Yeah, I know who you are. All the girls in this school know who you are." Her group of friends giggled.

A gaggle of giggling schoolgirls was the last thing Draco's temper needed right now. However, something about Sadie had a soothing effect on his mood. Perhaps it was her sparkling blue eyes, or the fact that a girl was acting interested in him instead making out with Zabini. Granger making out with Zabini. Damn. He couldn't get that picture out of his head.

"Are you okay?" Sadie asked. "You look…mad. Are you mad at us? We're sorry we bumped into you. We'll watch where we're going next time."

"No," Draco said quickly. "I'm not mad. I just…" His voice trailed off as he gazed into Sadie's blue orbs. Merlin, she was pretty. Certainly a lot prettier than Granger. And hotter, too. And overall better. Suddenly, he grinned. "Say, _Sadie_, what are you doing tomorrow?"

Sadie's eyes lit up. "Tomorrow?" she squeaked. "N-nothing! Why?"

Draco took a step closer to her. "I was thinking maybe you and I could take a trip down to Hogsmeade. Maybe get a drink. Get to know each other better. You know." He winked.

The girl looked like she was going to pass out from sheer joy. "Oh wow," she breathed. "Yes! Yes, absolutely! I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you!"

"Great," Draco said, giving her his most charming grin. "I'll meet you by the Great Hall around noon. Be there."

"I will!" Sadie exclaimed, jumping up and down.

As soon as Draco walked away, he could hear her friends all start to talk excitedly at once. He rolled his eyes. _Girls._

A minute later, Draco found himself entering the common room. Nobody was there, not even Pansy. That was just as well - he wasn't looking forward to being alone with her; she would probably kill him. With a big sigh, he plopped down on the couch. He had just made a date with an underclassman that he didn't even know. From what he could tell, she was attractive, but probably gave Pansy a run for her money in the Lack of a Decent Personality category. So why had he done it? He normally didn't go asking girls out at random.

Granger. That's why. He admitted that he'd had a momentary lapse in judgment, earlier in the hospital wing. For one brief moment, he'd thought maybe…_just maybe_…there could have been some form of _feelings_ there for her. But you know, he was glad he saw her and Blaise kissing in the library. It made him realize what a dolt he was being. Having feelings for Granger? That was just wrong and immoral and…probably illegal. He was actually _glad_ she wanted to make out with Blaise. Really, he had been afraid that she would think their little kiss meant that he wanted to pursue a relationship with her (which he most certainly didn't). He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling that a lovelorn Granger would be hard to get rid of – even more so than Pansy.

_Stop thinking of Granger,_ he ordered himself. So that's exactly what he did. Instead, he thought of that Fifth Year, what's-her-name, and smiled. He actually couldn't wait for their date tomorrow. He was pretty sure this girl was exactly what he needed to put this whole love potion fiasco - and Granger - behind him.

* * *

Author's Note #2: You know…I _was_ planning on ending the story this chapter. But then I thought, how could I possibly drag this story out as long as I can? And then I came up with the answer: add another cliché to the story (new girl for Draco). I hope none of you are frustrated that yet _another_ obstacle has gotten in their way. I guarantee that by Chapter Fifty, they will be happily together (just kidding – Chapter Forty-Nine). :D 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Author's Note: This is my longest chapter yet (over 4,000 words). I'm not sure if that's good or bad... **

**Oh, and just wanted to respond to one reviewer:  
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**_Darkwing731_ – You are probably so totally right about Blaise not knowing the saying, "One for the road". I actually had that thought myself after I wrote it, but kept it in cuz…well, I don't know why, hehe. However, though, Hermione _does_ know the meaning of the saying and _has_ heard it before…she just didn't know what it was referring to when he said it. In other words, she didn't know it meant he wanted to kiss her. :D  
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**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Okay, now on with the story…**

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"Let me get this straight," Ginny said. "You kissed Blaise…and then you kissed Malfoy…and then you kissed Blaise again? All in one evening?"

"Yes," replied Hermione.

"You little trollop!" Ginny squealed in delight.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed, looking around the common room in hopes that nobody was listening in. "I am _not_ a trollop!"

It was late Sunday morning, and Hermione had just filled Ginny in on the events that had taken place the night before. As expected, Ginny was more than thrilled to hear about just how eventful it had been.

"So this means you guys talked? You and Malfoy, I mean."

Hermione bit her lip. "Not exactly. I mean…I don't know…not really. We didn't profess our love to each other, if that's what you're wondering."

"You just snogged each other senseless." Ginny sighed and looked deep in thought, as if she were imagining what it had been like. "That must have been _hot_."

Hermione couldn't help but smile a very big smile. "Yes…actually, it was. It was the first time I've kissed Malfoy without being under the influence of a love potion and…I have to say…I enjoyed it."

Ginny squealed again, this time with Hermione squealing right along with her.

"Looks like we've come at a bad time," a voice muttered behind them.

Hermione spun around to see her two best friends standing there, looking at the girls with ill expressions on their faces. Neither Harry nor Ron particularly liked getting involved in "girl moments".

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. She jumped up from the couch, ran over to them and pulled them into a group hug.

"Erm…" Harry said, looking uncomfortable. "What's with _her_?" he asked Ginny over Hermione's shoulder.

"I'll let her tell you herself," Ginny said, smiling. "I don't want you two killing the messenger."

"Uh-oh," said Ron, quickly escaping Hermione's grasp. "What does she mean by that?"

Hermione shot a glare over at Ginny. Now she would _have_ to tell Harry and Ron, or else they would annoy her until she did. "Um…well…" She sighed. She had been hoping she wouldn't have to tell them about Malfoy. Mainly because she didn't know what there was to tell. But for the time being, all she said was, "Well, there's a small possibility that Malfoy and I don't loathe each other after all."

Both Harry and Ron simultaneously looked horrified. Hermione ignored them and continued: "We _kissed_ last night…"

A deafening silence filled the room. Harry and Ron just stood there, their jaws practically hitting the floor, until Ginny finally spoke up and said, "Hey, why don't we all go down to Hogsmeade?"

Hermione glanced nervously between Harry and Ron. "Harry? Ron? Please say something."

"I think going to Hogsmeade is a splendid idea," Harry said flatly.

"Harry, don't ignore this," Hermione said.

"What do you expect him to do, Mione?" Ron said through gritted teeth. "What do you expect _me_ to do? Congratulate you? Pat you on the back? This is _Malfoy_ we are talking about here. We can't just _accept_ this. But out of respect for you, we are choosing not to yell at you about it. So ignoring it right now seems like the more sensible thing to do."

"Yell at me about it?" Hermione said angrily. "If _anyone_ should be yelling here, it should be _me_ at the two of _you_!"

"Us?" Harry said in confusion. "What did _we_ do?"

"It's not what you did. It's what you _didn't_ do!" Hermione looked at her two best friends, who both looked genuinely perplexed. "Why didn't you tell me the truth about that love potion? Why didn't you tell me what it really meant – the fact that it worked? Why did you keep this from me?"

Both of the boys looked shocked. "How did you -"

"_I_ told her," Ginny said, standing up from the couch and folding her arms across her chest.

"_You_?" Ron said. "And how did _you -_"

"I overheard you two talking the other night," Ginny explained.

Ron glared at his sister. "So you eavesdropped, and then you tattled? Nice one, Ginny," he said, very sarcastically.

"Now you listen here!" Ginny said, now placing a hand on her hip, while the other hand proceeded to point a finger aggressively at the two boys standing across from her. "Hermione is my friend too, and I felt that she had a right to know! Am I the _only_ one who has noticed how terribly heartbroken this girl has been for the past few days? I thought this would help her feel better, and guess what? It's worked! You two should be ashamed of yourselves! You care more about your petty differences with Malfoy than you do your own best friend's feelings!"

"We care about Hermione's feelings!" Harry said defensively. "That's why we didn't tell her! We didn't want her to end up pursuing a relationship with Malfoy, because she will only get hurt in the end! How can you accuse us of not caring?"

"Yeah!" Ron said in agreement.

Harry turned to Hermione. "Please, Hermione. Please believe me when I say that we only had your best interests at heart when we decided not to tell you about the potion."

"I believe you," Hermione said softly. "I know you guys only want the best for me. But what if I was to tell you that pursuing a relationship with Malfoy _would _be the best for me?"

"But it's not!" Ron exclaimed. "Are you completely daft, Hermione? Malfoy is a stupid git! He's a ferret! You'd have to be delusional in order to want to date Draco Malfoy!"

Hermione threw her hands up in defeat. "That's _it_! I really don't feel like discussing this right now! I know that you two are never going to accept this, but that's your problem – not mine! And I'm not going to change my feelings just so that you two don't have to worry about me getting hurt. This is really none of your concern!"

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind as Hermione spun around and headed for the portrait hole.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

"I'm going to Hogsmeade. By myself," she said, not looking back. The door closed behind her.

Ginny glared at her brother and Harry. "Way to go, guys! Alienate our best friend, why don't you!" She, too, proceeded to storm off out of the common room, most likely to try and catch up with Hermione.

When both of them were gone, Ron looked over at Harry with an exasperated look on his face. He shook his head and said, "_Girls_."

Harry shrugged. "You can say that again."

* * *

Draco stared across the table at his date in complet boredom. Luckily, she was extremely pretty, because her good looks seemed to be the only thing she had going for her. 

"So Michelle told Sarah that she really shouldn't wear pink, because it looks absolutely horrid on her. You wouldn't believe how much that upset Sarah. She was in the lavatory for the rest of the day, crying her poor eyes out. I honestly have no idea what Michelle was talking about – _yellow_ looks a lot worse on Sarah than_ pink_ does."

Draco suddenly wanted to gouge his eyes out with a fork. "Interesting," he said.

"I know!" Sadie exclaimed. "Hey, did you hear about Scarlet Jones? I overheard her telling Melanie Fitzsimmons that she thinks Professor Snape is _cute_! Oh my God, can you _believe_ that?" She giggled furiously.

Now, Draco wanted to gouge out his eyes _and _throw up, simultaneously. "I want another butterbeer. Would you like another butterbeer? I'm going to go get some more butterbeers."

Without waiting for her to respond, Draco quickly departed and headed for the bar. It was early Sunday afternoon, and he was spending it with the most boring, shallow girl he had ever had the displeasure of meeting. And to make matters worse, she was not helping him rid his mind of Granger. In fact, quite the opposite – while she had been filling him in on what kind of spells to use for sleek and shiny hair, and what color not to wear after Labor Day, all Draco could do was replay in his mind that kiss he shared with Hermione the night before. And then he would replay the two kisses he had seen her share with Blaise, and he'd suddenly want to punch the table.

So in other words, this was the worst date Draco Malfoy had ever had.

"Can I get two more butterbeers?" he asked the bartender the second he reached the bar.

Markus nodded and walked off to retrieve them. As Draco drummed his fingers impatiently on the counter, a female voice said, "Malfoy?"

Looking to his left, he noticed that Hermione was standing there. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed her as he'd neared the bar. You could see her bushy hair from a mile away.

"Hey," she said with a half smile.

"Hey," Draco responded – a little too softly in his opinion, so he cleared his throat and quickly added coldly, "_Granger_."

Her smile wavered a bit.

They stood there uncomfortably for a moment, not speaking, until finally Draco demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Ignoring the fact he sounded bitter, Hermione sighed and replied, "Getting away from my friends. Sometimes they just…ugh. They drive me insane."

Draco snorted. He wanted to make yet another anti-Scarhead and Weasel comment, but figured he'd better not. Instead, he said, "You're not here with Zabini?"

Hermione blinked. "Blaise? No. I didn't even know he was here. Is he here? Where is he?"

"You have eyes, Granger," Draco snapped. "Use them."

"It was just a question!" Hermione said defensivly. "No need to get all in a huff about it."

"Whatever." Draco knocked on the counter. "Hey," he said loudly, "who do I have to curse around here to get a drink?"

"What's _wrong_ with you?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, Granger! Nothing at all! Look, why don't you go find someone who actually cares to hear your voice? I'm sure Zabini is around here somewhere. I'll bet if you just bat your eyelashes, he'll appear in a flash."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Markus, handing both of them their bottles of butterbeer.

"Thanks," Draco muttered. He took the bottles and without so much as a "goodbye" to Hermione, he returned to his table.

"It's about time!" Sadie exclaimed as Draco sat down across from her, placing a bottle of butterbeer in front of her.

He glanced up at the bar to see if Hermione had been watching him. Much to his chagrin, he saw that just like he'd predicted, Zabini had appeared by her side. Draco scowled.

"Draco?" Sadie said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Draco grumbled.

"So what was I talking about? Oh yeah. So Michelle and I went shopping yesterday, and I found the most gorgeous dress robes! They were purple – by the way purple looks great on me – and…"

Draco tuned her out. He really didn't care to hear her talk about yet another gorgeous set of dress robes. He glanced up at Hermione again. This time, he could have sworn he caught her looking over at him – but she'd looked away too quickly in order for him to really tell. She seemed engrossed in a conversation with Zabini.

"Earth to Draco!" a voice said with a laugh. Sadie was waving her hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention.

"Sorry," Draco mumbled.

Sadie frowned. She got up suddenly and walked around the table and took a seat right next to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she said, "You seem really tense. I think you need a massage."

"No," Draco said, "I'm fine, really, I just…ohhh…" His voice trailed off as her hand began to knead his shoulder. It felt nice. At least, a lot nicer than the _last_ massage he'd received, which had been from Pansy. Massaging was just another thing that Pansy Parkinson was really bad at.

Draco closed his eyes and let Sadie continue to massage his shoulders. This was certainly helping get his mind off of Granger. Wait…Granger _who_?

"Do you like that?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah," Draco replied. "I do."

"Well," she said. She pulled her hand away. "I have something you might like even more."

Draco opened his eyes and looked at her. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"This." She leaned in slowly and kissed him.

An alarm went off in Draco's brain that told him this was a bad thing. However, he chose to ignore it, since this girl was a fairly good kisser, and the whole thing was a much-needed distraction. With that realization, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her in closer. Sadie sighed and deepened the kiss.

Draco was unsure how long they'd been kissing. All he knew was that was out of breath by the time Sadie pulled away.

"That was nice," Sadie said, smiling victoriously.

"Yeah, it was…" Without thinking, Draco looked up. Across the pub stood Hermione, who was looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite place. If he didn't know better, he might have said she looked hurt. However, he turned his attention back to Sadie. "…nice," he finished the sentence.

Sadie grinned and leaned in for another kiss. Draco almost went for it, but just as their lips were about to touch, he pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Sadie asked with a pout.

Draco actually thought that was a pretty good question – one that he did not know the answer to. "Nothing," he replied, "I just…um…" His voice trailed off as he looked up once more in the direction where Hermione was standing, just in time to see her leaving the pub. "I just…need to get some air…" he said, getting up from the table.

Sadie's pout grew bigger. "But -"

Draco did not get to hear her protest; he was already halfway across the pub. He had no idea what he was doing. Well, actually, he _did_ know what he was doing – he was following Hermione. He just didn't know _why._ All he _did_ know was that he felt a sudden urge to talk to her.

* * *

_Just, like, 2 minutes earlier…_

"What's _wrong_ with you?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, Granger! Nothing at all! Look, why don't you go find someone who actually cares to hear your voice? I'm sure Zabini is around here somewhere. I'll bet if you just bat your eyelashes, he'll appear in a flash."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Markus, handing both of them their bottles of butterbeer.

"Thanks," Draco muttered. He took the bottles and without so much as a "goodbye" to Hermione, he returned to his table.

Hermione's eyes followed him all the way. To her surprise, she saw that he was returning to an _occupied_ table. She should have known – after all, he'd ordered _two_ butterbeers. She glanced at the girl Draco had just handed the butterbeer to, and _not_ to Hermione's surprise, she was absolutely gorgeous. She frowned.

"Looks like somebody needs a butterbeer," a voice said behind her. Hermione spun around to see Blaise standing there.

She gave him a smile she hoped looked sincere. Holding up her bottle for him to see, she said, "Already got one right here."

"Well I think you ought to drink it, instead of just looking like you want to drown in it." Blaise furrowed his brow. "Seriously, though…you look like you've just lost your best friend."

When Hermione failed to respond, or acknowledge that she even heard him, Blaise followed her gaze and found himself looking at Draco and some girl getting cozy at a corner table.

"Who is she?" Hermione asked softly.

Blaise shrugged. "I have no clue. I've seen her around school. She's a Slytherin. Fifth year, I think." He paused, realizing that Hermione didn't so much want to know who the girl was, rather who she was to _Draco_. He sighed. "Look, Granger, I'm sure it's nothing, alright? They're probably just fr -"

He'd started to say "friends", but stopped mid-word when he noticed the girl was now giving Draco a massage.

"Friends?" Hermione scoffed. "I've never given Harry or Ron a massage, and they're my _best_ friends."

"Right, well…" Blaise was at a loss for words. Especially when the next thing to happen was an intense liplock between the two "friends".

Hermione inhaled sharply. The boy she had kissed just last night…the boy she thought she could possibly maybe…sort of _like_, was snogging some beautiful, pureblood Slytherin girl right in front of her very eyes. And it _really_ bothered her. She knew she should look away, but she just couldn't. Even when the kiss ended a few seconds later, and Draco looked up at her, she still couldn't tear her gaze away. His eyes lingered on her for a brief moment, and Hermione could have sworn she saw a bit of remorse in his eyes. However, it was short-lived and he quickly looked away.

When it appeared as though Draco was going in for another kiss with his Slytherin slut, Hermione mumbled to Blaise, "I need to get some air," and without waiting for his response, she exited the pub.

Hermione blinked as the bright afternoon sun hit her face, causing her eyes to water. At least, that's what she _wanted_ to blame the tears on – the sun. But really, she knew better. Turning the corner, she walked alongside the building and stopped.

_Calm down, Hermione. Take a deep breath, _she told herself. She followed her instructions, but her deep breath came out more like a pathetic sob.

"Granger?" a voice called out to her.

Quickly, Hermione dabbed her eyes dry and turned around, expecting to see Blaise. Instead, she saw…_Malfoy_.

They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, before Draco finally said, in a surprisingly soft voice, "Look, what you just saw in there…it's not what you think."

Hermione lifted an eyebrow, and Draco continued, "That girl – I barely know her. She's just…I mean, we're just…and she…the kiss meant nothing."

Much to her chagrin, Hermione felt a great feeling of relief wash over her. Nevertheless, she folded her arms over her chest and said, "Malfoy, why are you telling me this?"

Draco just looked at her, as if he could not think of an answer to her question. Finally, he said, "I don't know. I just…I just needed you to know that."

Hermione took a step forward, closer to him. "But _why_? Why do you 'need' me to know that?"

She was encouraging him to reveal _feelings_, and he knew it. And he was afraid he just might if she kept on asking him. And, of course, that fear immediately took over, and he said coldly, "I saw the look on your face when you saw me kiss Sadie. You looked heartbroken. I know you're in love with me, Granger, and we wouldn't want you to go jumping off of the Astronomy Tower because of your unrequited love for me, would we?"

Hermione looked at him in disbelief and shook her head. "You sonofabitch," she mumbled, pushing past him as quickly as she could.

As soon as she'd turned the corner, Draco had grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Wait," he said. "Look, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry -"

Hermione's eyes widened at the last two words. He looked just as surprised as she did Did Draco Malfoy just _apologize_ to her? She opened to her mouth to speak, but no words came out. They didn't even have a chance to, before somebody in the distance called out to her.

"Mione!" Harry said. He and Ron had just arrived at the Three Broomsticks, and the sight of Draco gripping onto Hermione's arm must have caused them alarm. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Hermione said numbly. She glanced over at Draco, but he was avoiding her gaze. He dropped her arm.

"Everything's just bloody wonderful, Potter," Draco grumbled. He brushed past the two boys, purposely bumping into Ron in the process. Without so much as a "goodbye" or a glance back, he continued to walk away from them. Hermione was surprised to notice that he wasn't going back inside the pub.

"What did we interrupt?" Ron demanded.

Hermione glared at Ron's nosiness. "As a matter of fact, you just interrupted Malfoy apologizing to me."

Ron and Harry just kind of stared at her for a second, before Ron muttered, "If you don't want to tell us, Hermione, that's fine. But you don't have to lie about it." And with that, the two boys entered the pub.

"Are you coming with us?" Harry asked. He was holding the door open for her.

"No," Hermione replied. "I think I'm just going to go find Ginny."

"Okay," Harry said with a slight frown. "Look, Hermione, Ron and I…we're sorry about not being honest with you, and we're sorry about earlier -"

"Speak for yourself!" Ron cried from inside of the pub.

Harry rolled his eyes, but Hermione smiled. Ron will be Ron. "It's okay, Harry. Really," she said. "Have fun."

Hermione wasn't really going to look for Ginny. She was more interested in following Malfoy, and maybe continuing with their conversation. It was not everyday that Draco Malfoy offered up an apology. And maybe it had just been her imagination, but she thought maybe…just maybe he was trying to tell her something.

* * *

Sadie had watched Draco walk away from the table and head out the door, and she was upset. He'd said he needed air, but if that were true, why couldn't he have taken _her_ with him? No…something was up, and she was going to find out what. 

So, she'd followed him out the door – just in time to peer around the corner and hear him telling a mudblood - in a pleading voice, no less - about how his kiss with Sadie "meant nothing". The nerve! Their kiss meant _nothing_? It sure hadn't _felt_ like nothing! Was Draco Malfoy just…using her? Ugh! Not wanting to hear anymore, she'd stomped back into the pub and walked up to the bar.

"What does that _mudblood_ have that _I_ don't?" she muttered to nobody in particular.

"Oh…I don't know. A decent personality, maybe?" said a voice next to her. "_And_ the ability to hold an intelligent conversation?"

Sadie glared over at the boy to her left – Blaise Zabini. "Sod off."

Blaise chuckled. "You know," he said, "you would be surprised to find that when it comes to girls, most boys are looking for more than just a massage and a snog."

Sadie suddenly looked interested. "You mean, like _sex_?"

Blaise sighed. It would be too much effort to try and explain to someone as shallow as this girl about how there is more to a relationship than just sex. Besides, it would probably ruin his reputation if anyone were to overhear him. He wouldn't want people to think he'd gone soft. So, he responded with, "Yeah…something like that" and walked off, leaving Sadie to sulk all by herself.

"What can I get my first customer of the day?" asked a young woman from behind the counter. Sadie looked up to see a pretty barmaid smiling at her. Sadie glanced at her nametag, which read "Geniva".

"Hey, I know you!" Sadie said to the woman.

Geniva blinked. "You do?"

"Yeah! Well, not really. I mean, I know _of_ you!" Sadie said gleefully. "My sister told me all about you. She was _raving_ about you and your…erm…" She leaned in closer and whispered, "…potions…"

Geniva blushed. "Ahh, your sister was a client of mine?"

Sadie nodded. "Yes. You gave her some special potion to use on the man she was in love with. It worked beautifully, and they've been happily married for over two years now!"

Geniva grinned. "Well that's wonderful! It's always nice to hear my products have done their jobs. Now, can I get you anything?"

"Actually…" Sadie said, as an idea began to form in her head. She leaned forward again. "It's funny I should run into you. I'm a student at Hogwarts, and I'm…um…doing a project for Potions class on, you know, the different types of love potions and stuff. I was wondering if maybe I could have a minute of your time? Perhaps you could give me some information on them? Oh, and if you could possibly give me some samples, that would be great too. The more I can get for this project, the better. Professor Snape's hard to please."

"Don't I know it," Geniva said with a chuckle. "I don't know, though…I don't usually like to give out information about love potions. They're not anything to be meddled with, you know."

"Oh, I know," Sadie said quickly. "Unfortunately, I have no one to use a love potion on, anyway." She gave Geniva her best fake pout. "Look, I will pay you anything -"

"Nonsense!" Geniva said, waving her hand. "I'm not going to charge you for doing research for a school project. Here, why don't you come out back with me, and I'll tell you anything you would like to know. And I've got some of my stock out back as well." She looked over at Markus. "I'm taking a break, okay, Markus?"

Markus scowled and said, "But you just got here!"

Geniva ignored him and motioned for Sadie to follow her.

Sadie did her best to hide an evil grin. Love potions were a girl's best friend – and _her_ best friend was about to get revenge on Draco Malfoy and that mudblood Gryffindor.

* * *


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Author's Note: Well, it's been forever and a day since I last updated, and I apologize for that. I've just been suffering from a _huge_ case of writer's block. But it seems to have at least _temporarily_ lifted, and thus...I have uploaded a new chapter. Um...this one is shorter than the last couple. This is because if I had put in everything I have planned to happen in _this_ chapter, it would have been way too long. So, I'm saving the rest (i.e. the action) for the next chapter. So sorry if this chapter's kind of boring. /**

**Thanks once again to everyone for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and blah blah blah. You know the drill.**

**

* * *

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Hermione's biggest regret from the past weekend was getting an apology from Draco Malfoy.

It was early Monday morning, and all she could think about were the words "I'm sorry" coming from Draco Malfoy's mouth. And then from that, she would proceed to think about what a nice mouth he _has_, and how she wouldn't mind kissing it again. But mostly, she thought about the apology, and how she knew she could probably never get him to say it again.

After he had walked off yesterday, and Hermione had ditched her two best friends, she searched nearly all of Hogsmeade for him – but to no avail. He seemed to have just disappeared into thin air. Later on that afternoon, she had run into Blaise Zabini and inquired about his best friend, but he didn't know where Draco was, either. This was all very frustrating for Hermione, for she had felt that she was finally getting somewhere with Draco…and that maybe, just maybe, he was starting to come around.

"Hermione," a sweet voice called out from behind her, breaking Hermione out of her reverie. She spun around on the couch to see Ginny standing behind her with a big smile on her face. "You look lost in thought. What's up?"

Despite the fact Hermione had seen Ginny last night, she had not told her about her encounter with Draco. She knew Ginny would probably read too much into it and try to talk her into _talking_ to Draco again. Of course, Hermione would love nothing more than to speak with Draco again…if only she could find him. Still, she didn't need her good friend hassling her about it. Nor did she need this information accidentally being leaked to Harry and Ron.

"Oh, it's nothing," Hermione replied. She was a terrible liar, and Ginny knew it.

"Does this happen to have anything to do with a certain Fifth Year harlot?"

"Ginny Weasley!" Hermione gasped, surprised to hear her sweet friend refer to someone like that. However, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Because, you know, Malfoy could do _so_ much better than her," Ginny continued.

Hermione nodded. "I agree. And he probably will. There are still a few pretty Sixth Year Slytherins he hasn't pursued yet. Perhaps one of them will turn out to be his lifemate."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a nitwit, Mione. I was talking about _you_."

"Give it up, Gin." Hermione sighed, shaking her head slightly.

"I'm not going to give this up!" Ginny cried. "Not until I see you happy again! And not until I see you deep in thought with a _smile_ on your face, instead of that ghastly frown you are displaying right now."

Hermione frowned. "I am _not_ frowning."

"Actually, you are," Ron said, entering the common room. "And it's ghastly."

Hermione shot him a death glare as he grinned.

"I couldn't help but overhear part of your conversation," he said.

Hermione groaned inwardly. "How much did you hear?"

"Just the part about you displaying a ghastly frown." He eyed Hermione as she sighed in relief. "You know, frowning _is_ quite unattractive. You're so much prettier when you smile."

Hermione blushed furiously. But not as much as Ron, whose face had gone redder than his hair when he realized what he'd said. Quickly, he cleared his throat and said, "You know, I mean '_you're_' as in a collective noun, meaning most people, not…_'you're_' as in _you are_. Not that I wasn't including _you_ in the _you're_, but -"

"Seriously, Ron!" Ginny snapped. "It's not a crime to tell your best friend that she's pretty. Especially when it's the truth." Ginny smiled sweetly at Hermione, who was blushing even harder now.

"What's the truth?" asked Harry as he entered the room as well.

"That Hermione is pretty," Ginny replied. "Don't you think she's pretty, Harry?"

Hermione suddenly wished the floor would open up and swallow her.

"Of course," Harry said without hesitation, only he managed not to blush when he said it.

"That's it," Hermione muttered. She jumped up from the couch. "I have to get to class."

"No you don't," Ginny said. "We haven't even gone to breakfast yet."

"I know that," Hermione snapped. "I meant to say breakfast."

"Well, we're almost ready to leave. Why don't you wait for us to go with you?"

"Because!" Hermione exclaimed. "You're embarrassing me!"

Ginny grinned. "If you think _you're_ embarrassed," she muttered, "my brother just told a girl she was pretty. He's going to be red _all day_."

Hermione laughed. She looked over at Ron, who appeared to be discussing something with Harry; the pink tint still visible in his cheeks.

Ginny grabbed Hermione's arm and laced hers through it, and began to lead her toward the portrait hole. "You know, Hermione, you don't give yourself enough credit. I know you're thinking that Draco Malfoy is too good for you, when in reality I'm kind of wondering why _you_ like _him._"

Hermione opened her mouth to argue that she does _not_ like Draco Malfoy, but she knew it was a lost cause. She knew Ginny no longer believed her when she said it. Instead, she kept silent and thought to herself, _I'm kind of wondering why, too…_

_

* * *

_

Draco's biggest regret from the past weekend was apologizing to Hermione Granger.

All he could do was keep asking himself over and over why he'd done it, yet he still could not come up with an acceptable answer. First, he blamed it on too many butterbeers, but since he'd only had one, that wasn't much of an excuse. Next, he blamed it on the incredibly boring date he'd been having with that Fifth Year girl Sadie. The girl had driven him to the brink of insanity, and being driven to the brink of insanity can do crazy things to a person. For instance, it could make him apologize to a girl he hates with all his heart and soul.

So Monday morning arrived, and Draco was still busy thinking about that stupid apology, and silently berating himself for being such a dolt. He was so busy silently berating, in fact, that he hadn't even noticed that Blaise had sauntered into the common room. That is, until the boy spoke.

"Hey," Blaise said. "A cute girl was looking for you yesterday."

Draco smacked the palm of his hand against his forehead. "Damn. Sadie. I left her all alone at the pub, didn't I? I forgot all about her."

"Well, yeah, you did," Blaise agreed. "But I wasn't talking about Sadie."

"Oh," Draco said distantly as he began to pile books into his bag. "Pansy, then?"

Blaise gave Draco a look of complete and utter shock. "You consider Pansy to be a _cute girl_?"

"Yeah, sure. You know, if she's in a good light and you're squinting and you kind of tilt your head a little to the right…"

Blaise was absolutely astonished by this information, and made a mental note to try that trick out later. In the meantime, he said, "Right. Well, I wasn't talking about Pansy, either."

Frustrated by this little guessing game, Draco sighed and said, "Was it Marietta?"

"_Who_?" Blaise, now equally annoyed as Draco, gave up and said, "No, geez. I was talking about Hermione."

"Granger?" Draco snorted. "I thought you said a _cute girl_ was looking for me. Not _a sorry excuse for one_."

"Fine. Whatever," Blaise said, throwing his hands into the air in defeat. "You know, I don't know what your problem is with her. I mean, other than her heritage. Which, by the way, is a lousy excuse for not liking someone. You know, if you gave her a chance, you might just find that you actually _like_ her."

Draco narrowed his eyes at Blaise. "Why do you suddenly want me to like Granger? I thought you were madly in love with her."

"I am _not_," Blaise said softly, "_madly in love_ with her. I will admit that I kind of like her. I mean, once I got to know her a little, I realized she is actually quite pleasant. She's nice and smart and funny and sweet, and she's got a pretty smile…"

"Oh yeah. You're not in love with her at _all_," Draco grumbled, shoving the last book into his big with a little more force than usual.

"Okay, so yeah – I like Granger. A lot, even. But it doesn't matter, because she doesn't like me back. At least, not in _that_ way. No, her heart is reserved for someone else."

"_Who_?" Draco demanded.

"Someone who's too stupid and stubborn to either notice or care, apparently."

"She's in love with _Weasley_!" Draco exclaimed.

Blaise shook his head. "I give up. I really do. I have been trying _so hard_ to make you see, but you refuse to. Well guess what? I'm tired of trying. Apparently, it's a lost cause. Apparently, you're willing to give up something that could turn out to be the best thing in your life. Well, _I'm_ not that stupid, you know. If you don't act fast and _soon_, I will do everything in my power to make damn sure that Granger's not wasting anymore of her emotions on you.You can count on that." And with that, Blaise stormed out of the room.

Draco just stood there, frozen. What the hell was Blaise talking about? Obviously, his crush on Granger was taking its toll on his mental health. Yeah. That must be it.

Shrugging, he tossed his bag over his shoulder and headed down to breakfast.

* * *

That Fifth Year Sadie's biggest regret from the past weekend was getting practically no useful information out of that barmaid.

The woman had brought her out back and discussed love potions, as she'd promised, but then she started babbling on and on about her "special" love potion. Something about it only working if the person you give it to already loves you back. Well, a lot of help that would be for _her_! Obviously, Draco Malfoy wasn't in love with her. If he _was_, she wouldn't _need_ the stupid potion in the first place! What kind of person would make such a useless love potion as _that one_?

And then, to make matters worse, the barmaid had refused to give her any samples. The nerve! She made up some excuse, like she knew Professor Snape, and she knew he would be positively livid if he found out she had supplied one of his students with a love potion. Which was probably very true…only Professor Snape would never find out about it, because Sadie was not really using it for a project. But she couldn't very well tell that to the barmaid, could she?

So that is why she stayed up very late Sunday night (getting about only two total hours of beauty sleep – something she didn't really need though, if she did say so herself). She had gone to the library and flipped through _Potions Through the Ages – A Guide to Nearly Every Potion Ever Made_ until she'd found the chapter on love potions. Luckily, the book contained a few recipes. Unfortunately though, the directions said to let the potions stew for approximately two weeks before using (but she really didn't want to wait two weeks. There was no harm in using the potion early, right?). And she didn't exactly have all the right ingredients (she did, however, have a few ingredients that were close enough to substitute). Still, she was very optimistic that by the beginning of classes on Monday morning, Draco Malfoy would be madly in love with her.

She glanced lovingly at the vile of potion she held in her hands. The substance inside was clear – surprising, considering all of the junk she'd put in it – and odorless, too. She smiled satisfactorily.

"You seem awfully cheerful for someone who got stood up yesterday by the hottest guy in school," said her friend and dorm mate, Michelle.

"I did _not_ get stood up!" Sadie screeched. "He had another engagement to attend to."

"Ahh…you mean with that Sixth Year mudblood Griffyndor?" Michelle grinned. "Tell me, are you jealous of her?"

"Hardly!" Sadie scoffed. "_Me_? Jealous of a _mudblood_? A bushy-haired one at that! No way, Michelle. She is the _last_ girl on Earth I would ever be jealous of! And it's not like I have anything to worry about. Draco doesn't even like her! In fact, I'm pretty sure he hates her guts! And besides…why would he be interested in _her_, when _I'm_ standing right in front of him? She's not even pretty."

"You keep telling yourself that, Sadie dear." Michelle stuck her nose in the air. "All I know is that if some guy I liked ditched _me_ at a pub to go meet in some dark alleyway with a girl like Hermione Granger, I would be feeling pretty insecure right about now. But that's just me." She headed for the door to the dorm. Before exiting the room, she turned to Sadie and said, "Are you really going to wear that? Blue looks positively horrid on you."

Sadie turned a slight shade of purple. Her friends could be such bitches sometimes.

_Forget about her_, she told herself. _And forget about everything she said. It won't matter in a little while, anyway, because Draco Malfoy is going to fall madly in love with me, and that little mudblood won't be able to do anything to stop it. Ha!_

Feeling slightly better, Sadie very gingerly tucked the vile away inside a pouch, which she then placed into her bag. Then, just to be on the safe side, she took off her shirt and changed into a nice light green one instead.

She wanted to look her best for when Draco Malfoy professed his undying love for her.

* * *

**Coming up next:** Will Sadie's love potion make Draco fall in love with her? Will Hermione get hurt again? Will Michelle ever stop being a total bitch? Will Ron's face still be red from giving Hermione a compliment? Oh, the suspense - it's killing you, I'm sure.  



	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Author's Note: I spent all day writing this chapter, from start to finish, and now I am seeing blurry. You didn't need to know that. I just had nothing better to say.**

**Once again, thanks to all for the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I own a lot of things in life, but Harry Potter ain't one of them. **

* * *

"Are you going to eat that?" Crabbe asked Draco, pointing to all of the food on his plate. 

Draco did not respond. He just pushed his plate forward in Crabbe's direction.

"Feeling okay, mate?" asked Blaise, who until now had been ignoring Draco ever since he'd arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast. "Something on your mind?"

"Sod off," Draco grumbled.

Blaise chuckled. "Sod off? You know, I should not have to put up with this kind of treatment from you. You're supposed to be my best friend."

Draco scoffed.

"Oh, hey, look!" Blaise pointed over to the Gryffindor table. "There's Granger." He grinned and waved to Hermione, whom Draco had noticed had been glancing over at their table. She smiled back and waved, but when her gaze fell upon Draco, her smile immediately faded and she looked away.

"So have you given any thought to our discussion this morning?" Blaise asked.

"No," Draco lied. In reality, that's _all_ he'd been able to think about since he'd left the common room a little while ago - Hermione Granger. It seemed as though a lot of his thoughts lately had been about her, and he hated it. He hated _her_. Right?

"Good morning, Draco!"

The sound of a sickly sweet voice beside him made him jump. He looked over to see Sadie sitting right beside him.

"Sadie," he said, unenthusiastically. "I didn't even see you there."

Sadie's smile wavered slightly. "Well that's good," she mumbled.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," she said quickly. "What happened to you yesterday? I was worried something happened to you."

"Oh…yeah…sorry about that," Draco said, even though deep down, he wasn't really sorry at all. "Something came up and I -"

"It's okay," Sadie said. "Really. Don't worry about it. Just promise me that we can go out again this Saturday?"

"Erm, well actually, Sadie, I think it would be better if maybe we _didn't_."

The smile never left Sadie's face. "Well," she said as she stood up from the table, "when you change your mind, you just let me know."

Blaise watched as the girl walked off. "Can you believe the amount of confidence that girl has? You just turned down her offer for a date, and she seems convinced you will change your mind." He shook his head in disbelief.

"Yeah," Draco nodded. He wasn't really listening, though. He was too busy staring across the room at Hermione who, much to his chagrin, had just gotten up from the table and headed for the exit to the Great Hall.

Okay, so…maybe he didn't hate her as much as he wanted to. And maybe yesterday, he apologized to her because he felt bad for what he'd said to her, and he wanted her to know that. And yeah…so, she wasn't the most unpleasant-looking girl in the world. In fact, for a mudblo – er, _muggle_ – she was quite pretty. Plain, yes, but pretty. Naturally pretty. And she was interesting – unlike pretty much every other girl he had ever associated with. She didn't appear to be interested in discussing clothes or boys, or other petty subjects that other girls liked to discuss. And she was smart, too – the top in their class. Also, Draco had to admit that he had always enjoyed exchanging barbs with her, because she could always give him a run for his money. She was, in many ways, a worthy opponent – and not to mention a worthy object of his affection.

"Bollocks," Draco muttered aloud. Did he honestly just think of Granger as an object of his affection? Yes. Yes, he did.

"Problem, mate?" Blaise asked, giving Draco a curious look.

"Yeah, you could say I have a _really_ big problem," Draco groaned.

He was in love with Hermione Granger.

* * *

Sadie practically skipped down the hallway. She was so happy! She had managed to slip a bit of that love potion into Draco's pumpkin juice without anyone noticing. Not that it had been all that hard – Draco seemed kind of spacey and was busy talking to Blaise Zabini the whole time. Crabbe and Goyle were way too busy stuffing their faces to notice anything, and Pansy Parkinson was too engrossed in a deep conversation with Millicent Bulstrode about some clothing shop in Hogsmeade to notice either. This was all going just too perfectly! So perfectly that she wouldn't even allow herself to be too upset about the fact that Draco had turned down her date invitation. After all, he would be changing his mind very soon! 

Taking the vial of leftover potion from her bag, Sadie smiled down at it whilst continuing down the hallway. _You are such a good love potion_, she thought to herself. _I did such a good job on you, didn't I?_

She didn't think it was possible, but right at that very moment, Sadie was happier with herself than she'd ever been.

Too bad she couldn't see what was coming.

* * *

Hermione hadn't been very hungry during breakfast. Especially after having seen Draco Malfoy over at the Slytherin table. Leave it to him to make her lose her appetite. Blaise, as usual, was nice enough to acknowledge her with a smile and a wave, while Draco just stared at her with that icy glare he's so famous for. 

Ron was avoiding her at all costs. She guessed he just couldn't come to grips with the fact he had complimented her. Boys could be so immature sometimes. Meanwhile, Hermione found she was avoiding talking to Ginny, in fear that she might accidentally tell her about yesterday. So because of all of this, Hermione decided to leave the Great Hall a little early…maybe head for the library to do some last minute studying before classes.

Walking down the hallway, Hermione opened her bag and began sifting through it, looking for her essay parchment, which was due for Potions class this morning. Unfortunately for all involved, she was not watching where she was going, and by the time she found her parchment and looked up, she had run smack-dab into that Fifth Year Sadie.

Hermione's bag got knocked out of her hands, as did her parchment, and they landed with a smack on the floor…along with the sound of glass shattering.

"BITCH!" Sadie yelled very loudly.

"Sorry," Hermione mumbled. She glanced down at the ground. Whatever Sadie had been carrying, it was now broken, and it had oozed all over her parchment. "Hey!" she cried. "My homework! It's ruined!"

"Oh boohoo, you stupid bitch! Look at what _you_ did to my…my…" Sadie's voice trailed off, as she couldn't very well blurt out exactly what it was.

Hermione bent down to examine her parchment. She wrinkled her nose. "What _is_ this stuff, anyway?" She picked up her soaked parchment and frowned. The ink was all smeared, and it was now completely illegible. But not only that…Hermione noticed that the parchment was slowly starting to dissolve away…and that suddenly, her hands felt as though they were on fire. Hermione screeched and threw the parchment to the ground.

"Aghhhh!" she screamed in agony. She glanced down at her hands, which were now covered in blisters and boils. "What the hell _is_ that stuff?" she yelled.

"Miss Granger?"

Professor McGonagall had been passing through the hallway when she'd heard Hermione shriek, so she had come over to investigate. "What's wrong? Oh dear Merlin!" McGonagall gasped when she saw Hermione's hands. "What happened to you?"

Tears of pain formed in Hermione's eyes as she sputtered out, "Sh-she spilled some-something. Owwww, it's burning!"

Professor McGonagall looked over at Sadie. "What did you spill?"

Sadie stared at Hermione in shock. "It's just a love potion!"

"A love potion?" Professor McGonagall said. "Love potions are not supposed to do this. What are you even doing with a love potion? Where did you get it?"

"I didn't get it anywhere!" Sadie cried. "I made it myself!"

"To use on whom?" McGonagall demanded.

Sadie's eyes widened with panic. Oh no…Draco! The potion she'd made was apparently dangerous, and she'd already spiked his drink with it! "Draco Malfoy!" she blurted out.

"_What_?" Hermione cried. "You haven't given it to him yet, have you?"

"Yes," Sadie replied in a small voice. "I put some in his pumpkin juice during breakfast..."

"We have to warn him!" Hermione said frantically.

"It's probably too late!" Sadie whimpered. Oh, this totally wasn't going the way she had planned.

"We don't know that!" Hermione said. She moved away from Professor McGonagall. "I have to go find him!"

"No, Miss Granger," McGonagall said, grabbing a hold of Hermione's arm. "You are going straight to Madame Pomfrey to have your hands looked at."

"But -" Hermione began to protest.

"No buts, Miss Granger. _I_ will find Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure he is fine. Right now, we need to have you seen to."

She gently began to lead Hermione toward the hospital wing, leaving Sadie and a large group of onlookers behind.

Hermione choked back a sob. She was in terrible pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain she would make Sadie feel if Draco had already taken that love potion. If anything happened to Draco, Hermione vowed to make that girl wish she had never been born.

* * *

The rumor started out like this: 

A Fourth Year Slytherin named Jonathan, who had witnessed the fiasco between Hermione and Sadie, said to his friend Michael, "Hey, Michael, did you hear about that Hermione Granger girl? Her hands got burned by some unknown substance in the hallway."

Minutes later, Michael said to his Fourth Year friend Elizabeth, "Hey, Elizabeth, did you hear about that Hermione Granger girl? She got terribly burned by some unknown substance in the hallway earlier. She had boils and everything. Barely any flesh left at all."

Seconds later, when Elizabeth's Fifth Year brother Daniel passed by, she said, "Hey, Daniel, did you hear about that Hermione Granger girl? She contracted some weird flesh-eating virus in the hallway this morning!"

A short while later, Daniel, who would believe almost anything, because he was not the brightest Fifth year there ever was, said to the first person who walked by him, "Hey, did you hear about that Hermione Granger girl?"

The person he randomly spoke to just happened to be Draco Malfoy, whose ears perked up at the words "Hermione Granger". Normally, Draco would ignore underclassmen, but he couldn't help but be very interested. "What about Hermione Granger?"

"She fell very ill in the hallway this morning!" Daniel exclaimed. "She has contracted some kind of deadly virus! She's in the hospital wing right now."

All of the color drained from Draco's face. "W-what?"

"Apparently, it doesn't look too good! They say she might not make it," the boy went on in his most dramatic voice. "I sure hope it's not contagious! I don't want to die too!"

Draco took a shaky step back from the kid. He couldn't believe this. He had just seen Granger in the Great Hall earlier, and she seemed fine. It was possible that this kid was lying…but yet, why would he lie about Hermione Granger? As far as Draco knew, this kid had no connection to Hermione. He wasn't even aware that this kid would even know who Hermione Granger was.

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked. "You don't look so hot."

Draco's gaze darted around the hallway. Everywhere, there were students huddled together, talking excitedly to one another.

"She's probably going to die," a girl was saying to her friend, as she walked by Draco. "I wonder how Harry Potter is going to deal with the death of one of his best friends! We'll have to do everything in our power to try and help him during his time of need."

The girl and her friend giggled and kept on walking by. Feeling slightly numb, Draco followed them – first with a slow walk, which then turned into a _brisk_ walk, until finally he broke out in a run, pushing one of the girls out of the way to clear his path.

"Hey!" she called out after him. "Rude much?"

Draco ignored her – and every other student he knocked into in the process – as he made his way to the hospital wing in a panic. His mind was racing with thoughts such as, what if it was true? What if Hermione was dying right now at this very moment? What if she died before he could make it to the hospital wing? Then she would never know…never know what he had only admitted to _himself_ just a few short moments ago.

By the time he reached the hospital wing, he couldn't breathe – mainly due to being out of shape. Regardless, he pushed open the door and rushed inside.

"Hermione?" he called out.

Madame Pomfrey, who was over at one of the beds tending to a student, looked up and said, "Mr. Malfoy! What are you -"

"Malfoy?"

Draco, who was clutching at his side, due to a cramp, looked up to see Hermione sitting on one of the beds on the far side of the room. Relief washed over him as the realization hit him that she was still alive. "G-Granger," he sputtered, trying to catch his breath, "I heard -"

"Malfoy!" Hermione exclaimed.

Before he knew what was happening, she was running over to him and throwing her arms around him. Despite the fact that the hug shocked him, he nevertheless hugged her right back – not even caring if she did indeed have some contagious deadly virus.

They managed to stay hugging for about five seconds before the realization of what they were doing hit, and they quickly broke apart and took a few steps back from each other.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Hermione said calmly, "What are you doing here?"

"I heard…I heard that you were sick. Dying, even," Draco said between taking gasps of air.

Hermione burst out laughing. "You heard I was _what_? Where did you hear that?"

Draco shrugged. "Some kid told me. The whole school is talking about it, practically."

Hermione chuckled. "Ah, rumors. This place is worse than a muggle school. So some kid told you I was suddenly dying, and you believed him?" She glanced up at Draco, who looked like he was trying desperately to hide an expression of concern. "Wait, so…you heard that I was really sick, so you came up here to see me? You were…_worried_ about me?"

"No," Draco said a little too quickly. His usual stone-faced expression had returned as he said, "Actually, quite the opposite. I heard you were on your deathbed, so I rushed up here to make sure it was true. You know, before getting my hopes up."

Normally, Hermione might feel insulted – or even slightly annoyed – at a comment like that. But this time, Hermione could tell that he was just trying to cover up. She smiled. "You were worried about me," she said softly.

"I bloody hell was not!" Draco denied.

"Sure you weren't." Hermione grinned. "Anyway, I'm not dying. I'm not even sick. I have no idea how that rumor got started. _This_ is why I'm here." She held up a bandaged hand for Draco to see.

"What happened?" he asked.

Hermione's smile faded. "I got burned. By your _girlfriend_."

"My girlfriend?" Draco sounded confused.

"You know – that Fifth Year girl."

"Sadie? Sadie did this to you?"

Hermione shook her head. "Not intentionally. I ran into her in the hallway – literally. She dropped some vial full of liquid, and it broke. It spilled all over my parchment and when I picked it up I came into contact with the vial's contents. Apparently, it was some pretty dangerous stuff she was toting around."

"Well, what was it?"

Hermione paused, wondering if she should tell him the truth. She, of course, decided there was no reason why she shouldn't. He would find out anyway. "It was a love potion," she replied.

"A…_love potion_?" Draco said. He had hoped to never have to hear that term again. "Why would she have a love potion?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "For _you_. She was going to give it to you, in hopes that you would fall madly in love with her. Unfortunately, though, it was a _homemade_ love potion, made entirely the wrong way. Hence these bandages on my hands."

Draco took a moment to digest this information. "You mean…the stuff that burned you…she was going to give to me to _drink_?"

"She already _had_, Malfoy," Hermione said softly. "She put some in your pumpkin juice this morning. So either it has no affect if taken orally, or you didn't drink it."

Draco thought back to breakfast that morning – he had been too distracted to either eat or drink, and he had left the Great Hall without having touched any of his breakfast at all. Amazingly enough, thinking about Hermione Granger had actually saved his life. It was almost enough to make him want to kiss her. _Almost_.

"No, I didn't drink it," he said numbly. And what if he _had_? How dead would he be right now? He preferred not to think about that. So instead, he grinned slowly and said, "So tell me, Granger, is that why you seemed so happy to see me? Because it meant I hadn't been burned from the inside out by that love potion?"

It was Hermione's turn to deny that she had been worried. However, she didn't. In fact, she did the exact opposite. She told him the truth. "Actually, yes. That's why I was happy to see you. I was worried."

This thoroughly confused Draco. At first, he wondered if he'd heard right. And when he realized he had, he then wondered if she was being facetious. But the look on her face told him that she was actually being quite serious. "What did you say?"

"I said I was worried about you," Hermione said simply. "When Sadie said that she had already spiked your drink, I thought…I thought there was no way you hadn't already drank it already. And I was scared. I wanted to go warn you, or see if you were okay, but Professor McGonagall wouldn't let me until I'd had my hands seen to by Madame Pomfrey." She glanced down at her bandaged hands.

Draco was at a loss for words. He hadn't expected her to say this. In fact, he had expected her to deny it and insult him, so he had thought out the perfect retort to throw back at her. But he wouldn't be able to use it now.

That awkward silence had returned as they both avoided each others' gazes. Finally, Draco cleared his throat and said, "Well maybe…maybe I was a little worried about _you_, too," he said quietly.

Hermione blinked up at him in surprise. She opened her mouth to question him further on that, but Madame Pomfrey interrupted by saying, "Miss Granger, you are free to leave now."

"Okay. Thank you, Madame Pomfrey," Hermione said, never taking her eyes off of Draco.

The time had officially come. Ginny would be so proud of her if she could see her now, for Hermione's next words were the ones Ginny had been encouraging her to say for days: "I think we need to talk."

Draco's breath caught in his throat. Those were the last words he'd wanted to hear, because he knew they meant something he most likely wasn't ready for. Regardless, he motioned toward the hospital wing's exit and said, "You lead the way."

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**Author's Note #2: **Well...this story is finally nearing the end. There will probably be only one or two more chapters left. You know, unless I can come up with yet another wrench to throw into the Draco/Hermione relationship. But honestly, I think they've been through enough already. Will they end up together in the end? Or will they decide to just be mortal enemies? Only _I_ know for sure. Well, actually, I _don't_ know, because I haven't actually planned it all out yet. P  



	18. Chapter Eighteen

**I think I say this too much, but thank you all again soooooo much for all of the reviews.  
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**Disclaimer:** **Do I own anything having to do with Harry Potter? No. Do I wish I did? Hell yes.**

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They sat in complete silence for what felt like an eternity. They'd probably only been in that abandoned classroom for mere minutes, but somehow the awkward silence made it feel like a lot longer.

Not able to take it any longer, Draco finally broke the ice by saying, "So…"

Hermione stared down at the floor. "So…"

Draco looked at the ceiling. "We're missing Potions class," he mumbled.

"I know," Hermione said.

The complete and utter lack of concern in Hermione's voice surprised Draco. Hermione Granger was knowingly missing a class, and she couldn't care less. He had to admit that he was a bit impressed.

He took one step closer to her. "So what did you want to talk to me about, Granger?"

Draco was so sure that his sudden proximity would unnerve her, but he was wrong. She stared up into his eyes with a look filled with intrepidity. "I think you know what I want to talk to you about, Draco."

He flinched at the sound of his name. So, they were back on a first-name basis, then? "Well, _Hermione_, maybe I _don't_ know. Perhaps you ought to tell me."

"And perhaps you ought to drop the clueless act," Hermione said icily. "I know you know why we're here."

"And I know you know that I know, but you know what else, Granger? I also know that I suddenly don't feel like talking anymore."

"Well too bad!" Hermione cried. "We need to talk about this!"

"About _what_, exactly? I honestly don't know!"

"I was _scared_!" Hermione shouted. Feeling embarrassed, she lowered her voice quite a bit and said, "I can't just ignore the way I felt when I thought for sure you had ingested that toxic love potion. I was frightened, Draco. Frightened that I would never see you alive again. That has got to mean something. And I know you won't admit it, but when you came rushing into the hospital wing -"

"I was scared, too," Draco blurted out. Oh, he really hadn't meant to say that.

Hermione looked at him in surprise. She hadn't been expecting him to admit that. But the fact that he _had_ made her breath catch in her throat.

Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, Draco took a step away from her. "Look, Granger, all we can conclude so far from this conversation is that we don't necessarily want each other to die. That just makes us decent human beings. It means nothing more than that."

"Why did you approach me on Valentine's Day?" Hermione asked. She was a bit surprised with herself – she had no idea she had even wanted to ask that question in the first place.

"What?" Draco said, pretending like he hadn't heard her.

"I said, why did you approach me on Valentine's Day?" Hermione repeated. Suddenly, she realized she had really wanted to know the answer to this question for quite some time now. "Why did you come over to my table and sit down? You never exactly made a habit of talking to me, unless I was hanging around Harry. So why, on Valentine's Day, did you decide to pay attention to me?"

It was something Draco had never stopped to wonder himself. Why _had_ he been so intent on paying attention to her at Valentine's Day? "I don't know, Granger." Draco sighed. "I guess I just saw it as a perfect opportunity to harass you. You were all alone on the most romantic day of the year, and I wanted to rub it in."

"But _why_?" Hermione pressed. "I mean, we both know that you love to torture me, but you've always done it when _Harry_ was right next to me, almost as if you did it to get a rise out of him. But I wasn't with Harry that night, so why did you even bother to acknowledge me?"

"What do you expect me to say, Granger?" Draco snapped. "That I approached you because deep down, I am madly in love with you? And wanted to spend the most romantic day of the year with you? Is that what you want to hear?"

"What I want to hear is the truth!"

"I already _told_ you the truth!" he yelled. "What else do you want from me?"

"I want you to -" She paused. "Ugh! I just want you to, once and for all, admit that you…that you…"

Draco looked at her intently, silently coaxing her to go on. "That I _what_?"

Hermione let her gaze fall to the floor. "That you…_like_ me."

She said it so softly that Draco wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. Did she just say she wants him to admit he likes her?

"Granger…" His voice trailed off. He considered making some scathing remark, like he wouldn't like her if she were the last witch on earth…but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. She stood in front of him looking so incredibly vulnerable…and so incredibly cute. "I like you," he said; his voice barely above a whisper. He couldn't believe he had just said that out loud. But more importantly, he couldn't believe that he didn't _care_.

She looked up at him. Tears – happy tears, he hoped – formed in her eyes. When she blinked, one lonely tear traveled down her cheek. Reaching out, Draco gently brushed it away.

"I like you, Granger," he went on. "I don't _want_ to like you. I don't know _why_ I like you. But I do. I think I've liked you for a long time, and that love potion…it just brought those feelings to the surface. I suddenly felt like I was _free _to like you…like there was nothing standing in our way of being together. That potion made me feel like it didn't matter who knew, or what they thought…all that mattered was that we were together. And then after we were given that anti-potion…all that security I had felt came crumbling down, and reality hit me - that you and I…this is wrong. Our friends don't want us together. And my father…Granger, if my father found out, I shudder to think of what he would do. But…" It was his turn to glance down at the floor, afraid to look at her. Afraid that if he did, he would kiss her and maybe never stop. "I've been fighting these feelings for you, Granger, and I'm tired. I don't want to do this anymore. The whole thing with Sadie was just a distraction. I couldn't stand to think about you anymore - about you and Blaise. Every time I saw you two together, it tore me up inside."

"Draco," Hermione whispered. Her tears were now flowing freely. "Blaise and I were never together. That whole thing with Pansy, when I thought you had given her that ring…_that_ tore _me _up inside. I guess I wanted to make you jealous, and I figured Blaise would be the perfect person to help me, especially since he seemed so willing. I know it was a stupid, immature thing to do, but I was hurt and, well, I guess I wasn't thinking straight."

Draco gaped at her. "You're kidding me. You mean, all this time…but I saw you _kiss_ him. Twice!"

"Twice?" Hermione was confused. She could only think of one time when he would have seen her and Blaise kissing, which was out on the Quidditch field. She had only kissed Blaise twice, after all, which would mean…"Oh." He must have seen them that time in the library. Suddenly, she felt ashamed. "The library?"

He nodded. "Yeah, the library. I came to find you that night after…well, after our little encounter in the hospital wing. And I saw you two together. You certainly weren't kissing to make me jealous _then_, because you didn't even know I was there."

"That was just…I don't know. Blaise can be a really nice guy, and I was thinking at the time that you and I would never happen -"

"Granger," Draco interrupted, shaking his head. "You don't owe me an explanation. You had Blaise, I had Sadie. They were both distractions and we both admit they were just ways to try and make each other jealous. We're both guilty here."

"You mean…you used Sadie to make me jealous?"

Draco nodded. "Did it work?"

Hermione sighed. "It really, really did."

Another moment of silence passed between them, but it was less uncomfortable this time.

"I'm glad we're doing this," Draco said suddenly.

"Me too." Hermione smiled at him.

"I can't fight this anymore, Granger," he continued. "I feel like if I do, I'm going to go absolutely mad. I thought if I just ignored everything, it would all go away, but it hasn't. I still see you every single day in the hallways, and my heart practically stops beating." He moved in closer to her. "It's getting to the point where I don't care if the whole world knows how I feel about you, just so long as I can…" His voice trailed off.

Shaking slightly as she gazed up into his eyes, Hermione whispered, "Just so long as you can _what_?"

Instead of answering, Draco slowly leaned forward and captured her mouth with his. The second their lips touched, Hermione could have sworn she'd felt a spark of electricity ignite between them. Without even hesitating, Hermione parted her lips slightly, as if to let him know it was okay to deepen the kiss – something he wasted no time in doing.

Hermione sighed into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck; at the same time he encircled _his _around her waist. Right away, Hermione could tell there was a huge difference between this kiss and all the others they had shared. Because this time there were no potions…there were no feelings of denial. This was, in many ways, their first _true_ kiss.

Hours passed…okay, well, _minutes_ passed, and it seemed like they would never part. Unfortunately, though, all good things must come to an end. And it was Draco who ended it.

"Wait," he murmured, gently pushing her away.

"What?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

Draco held her out at arm's length and stared deeply into her eyes. He didn't want to have to say this, but he knew he had no choice. "There's something you need to understand, Granger. The Draco Malfoy you've hated for all these years…that person is me. He is who I am. I can't be expected to change because you…because we…"

"Malfoy," Hermione interjected softly, placing a finger to his lips. "Who said I expected you to change? I _know _who you are. I know that the Draco Malfoy I've known and hated for all these years has not just been an act."

"And you can accept that I will always be an insufferable git?" He arched an eyebrow.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "I guess I will have to. Can _you_ accept the fact that I will always be a know-it-all bookworm mudblood?"

Draco grimaced at the term "mudblood". Hell, he was becoming soft already. And he suddenly didn't care. He gave her a kiss on her forehead. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Hermione smiled and leaned in for another kiss. Unfortunately, this time they were interrupted by the bell ringing. Potions class was over.

"Oh no," Hermione said in a panicky voice. "We missed the entire class."

Draco chuckled. "It's better to have missed it altogether than to have shown up late. Could you imagine the look on Snape's face if you and I traipsed into class late _together_? What _would_ people think?"

Hermione giggled. "They would think we are crazy."

"They would have every reason to think that, Granger. Because we _are_ crazy."

Hermione took his hand. "At least we're crazy _together_, right? Now let's make sure we're not late for our next class."

"Right," Draco said; his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That would be a travesty."

"It would!" Hermione exclaimed.

Draco grinned. "Okay, okay. Hey, what do you say we get together later? Maybe meet at our spot?"

"'_Our spot'?_" Hermione said.

"Yeah. You know, the Astronomy Tower…"

"I know where _our spot_ is, Malfoy. I was just surprised to hear you refer to it as that."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well whatever. Is it a date, or not?"

"Oh, it's a date alright," said Hermione in a flirty voice. She turned towards the door. "Okay, so I'll leave first. We wouldn't want anyone to see the two of us exiting an empty classroom together now, do we?"

"I suppose not," Draco replied. "Although it would be very interesting to see the expressions on their faces. Especially Pansy's."

Hermione had to admit she wouldn't mind seeing Pansy's expression, either. Still, she wasn't about to risk it. "I'll see you later," she called over her shoulder to Draco, then exited the room.

The minute she stepped foot into the hallway, she heard somebody call out her name.

Looking up, she saw that Harry and Ron were rushing over to her as fast as they could. "Mione!" Harry cried. "Thank goodness you're all right! Why weren't you in Potions class? We heard that you got hurt and we were worried about you! What happen-"

Harry froze mid-sentence and stared wide-eyed over Hermione's shoulder.

_Uh-oh_, she thought. Turning around, she saw what had made Harry look like a deer caught in headlights: Draco had emerged from the empty classroom. The one _she_ had just emerged from.

"Uh…Mione…" Ron said, glaring at Draco. "Care to explain what you and Malfoy were just doing in that empty classroom?" He paused, blushed, then mumbled, "No, wait, forget I said that. I don't want to know."

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. She'd been hoping to put this moment off for a while - like maybe until the end of their seventh year or so – but it looked as though she had no choice but to just get everything out into the open right now.

She reached out her hand behind her, searching for Draco's. He took it immediately, and suddenly she felt confident in what she was about to do.

They wouldn't like it, she knew. They would probably scream and yell and protest and shoot glares. Ron would probably stop breathing. But this was something she was going to have to do eventually, and there was no time like the present. Besides, the sooner they found out, the sooner they'd get over it.

Standing next to Draco, who stood as tall and arrogant as ever, Hermione looked at her two best friends and said quietly, "Harry…Ron…Draco and I have something to tell you."

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**Author's Note:** Okay, folks, only _one more chapter_ left to go. And guess what? It's already half-written! w00t! 


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Author's Note: Okay, so…here is the final chapter. It's been a long journey, filled with a lot of annoying obstacles, hasn't it? LOL. One of the reviews I received for my last chapter asked if I could please make the plot more exciting. I really wanted to, but seeing as though this was the last chapter, I felt that I should just wrap everything up. And that means: _boring chapter_. Hopefully my next fic will be action-packed. :D**

**So anyway…hope this is an okay ending to the story. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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_5 days later…The Three Broomsticks_

"What's a mudblood like you doing in place like this?"

Hermione sighed and looked up at the blonde boy who seemed to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere beside her table. "Actually, if you must know, I'm impatiently awaiting the arrival of my date. Who, by the way, slightly resembles a ferret. And who is about ten minutes late."

Draco feigned an expression of shock. "Are you telling me that _you_ have a _date_? Who's the unlucky guy?"

Hermione shrugged. "Nobody special."

Draco grinned. His hand emerged from behind his back, and in it he was holding a single red rose. He held it out to Hermione, who was now blushing slightly.

"Oh Malfoy, you shouldn't have," she said.

"I know." Draco took a seat next to her. "Do you think your date will mind if I keep you company until he shows up?"

"Who cares about _him_? You should be asking if _I _mind."

Draco leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Do you mind?"

The feel of his breath on her earlobe sent shivers down her spine. "I g-guess not," she stammered.

"Lucky me," Draco murmured, nuzzling her neck.

Hermione began to giggle, but abruptly stopped when she heard the sound of somebody clearing their throat nearby. Standing by their table, looking quite awkward, was Harry and Ron.

It had been five days since Hermione and Draco had revealed their newfound (or not so newfound) feelings for one another. They had taken the news better than she'd expected (Harry didn't yell, and Ron didn't turn purple again), but not as well as she'd hoped. In fact, they'd been keeping their distance from her all week – talking to her only when they absolutely had to. Ginny had told her not to worry about it, that they would come around. She was sure Ginny was right, but she couldn't help but feel miserable in the meantime. Harry and Ron were her best friends, and she couldn't stand the thought of losing them. Having Draco as a companion was great, but she never wanted to lose the relationship she had with those two boys. They were like family to her. She loved them.

"Hey," she greeted them hesitantly.

"Hello," Harry said. "May we sit down?"

Hermione smiled and said, "Of course."

They both took a seat across from the two lovebirds. They glanced at each other, as if silently trying to decide who should speak. In the end, they decided on Harry.

"Hermione, Ron and I have been thinking a lot the past few days," he began, "and we have a few things to say about this, if you don't mind."

Draco snorted, and Hermione glared at him. "Go ahead, Harry."

Taking a deep breath, Harry continued: "Well, first of all, Ron and I were not happy to learn about your…relationship…with Malfoy. But we weren't exactly surprised, either." He looked over at Draco. "It's no secret that we don't like you, Malfoy. And it's no secret that you don't like us, either. But…it appears as though you like Hermione. And Hermione…well, Hermione really likes you. We've been trying to deny it for so long; trying to ignore it. But we know now that it was wrong of us. And we're sorry, Hermione."

Hermione opened her mouth to accept Harry's apology, but he went right on talking.

"We hate the thought of you with Malfoy, Hermione," he said. "But we also hate the thought of you being unhappy." He looked over at Ron. "I think we both hate the latter a little more. So we're here to tell you that…well, that if being with Malfoy makes you happy, then we're willing to accept your relationship. And we'll be happy for you."

Happy tears sprung to Hermione's eyes. "Oh, you guys!" She jumped up and held out her arms – the universal language for "group hug". The two boys wasted no time in getting up from their seats to embrace her.

Watching this display of affection, Draco had to fight the strong urge to gag. But as annoying as it was to see the three of them acting so sappy, Draco admitted that he had no right to complain about it. After all, he knew perfectly well what he was getting into when he decided he was in love with Hermione Granger. The Golden Trio was now going to be a constant part of his life, and he was just going to have to accept it. And maybe someday, he could become part of the Trio himself. They could be The Golden Four. But he really hoped that day would never come.

Eventually, the three of them parted.

"That was really touching," Draco said, unable to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

Ron glared at him. "Oh yeah, and we wanted to discuss one other thing." Ron leaned over closer to Draco and put on his best tough-guy expression. "If you do anything to hurt Hermione in any way, we will hunt you down and kill you. And then we will perform a resurrection spell to bring you back to life, and then we'll kill you again. After we torture you for hours, that is. Do you understand?"

Draco stared wide-eyed at Ron. He in no way felt threatened by the Weasel, but he at least felt a little respect for him. He obviously cared deeply for Hermione, and…well…Draco could relate to that. "I understand perfectly well, Weasley. I will not do anything to hurt Hermione. And if by some rare chance that I do, I will not resist the torture or the killing. Okay?"

Ron seemed satisfied by that answer. He kind of had to be, because it was the best assurance Draco could give.

"Well," said Harry, turning to Hermione. "Ron and I have some stuff we need to do here in Hogsmeade, so we'll leave you two alone. Meet up with you later?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, definitely."

Harry smiled. He and Ron began to walk away, but he stopped suddenly and turned back around. Looking at Draco, he said, "Oh yeah, and one more thing, Malfoy: we are not friends. We never will be. Just because you're with Hermione now does not mean we have to suddenly get along."

Draco chuckled. "That's actually the best news I've heard all day, Potter."

Harry smirked, and the two boys walked off.

Hermione sat back down next to Draco with a big grin on her face.

"You feeling better now?" Draco asked her.

"Maybe," Hermione replied. She breathed a sigh of relief. There was no "maybe" about it. She was definitely thrilled to know that her friends were going to accept her relationship with Draco and still be her friend. Really, Harry and Ron were the best friends in the world.

"Just maybe?" Draco said. He knew her better than that. "I think you couldn't be happier. Your friends still like you, and you now have the greatest boyfriend in the entire world. You should be happy."

Hermione rolled her eyes at his "greatest boyfriend" comment. She was about to playfully disagree with him, but a barmaid interrupted her.

"Can I get you two anything?" the woman asked.

Hermione glanced up. Her eyes widened as soon as she recognized the young woman. She was the one who had spiked her and Draco's drinks!

Geniva seemed to recognize them as quickly as they'd recognized her, and a look of guilt crossed her face.

"Yeah, sure," Draco replied. "We'll take two butterbeers. Hold the love potion."

"Oh no," Geniva groaned. "You two must hate me. I can get you another server if you'd like -"

"Nonsense," Hermione said, waving her hand in dismissal.

"I am so, so sorry, you two," Geniva said, taking a seat down at their table. "I had no right to do what I did, and I've regretted it every day since. I'm so sorry for any trouble I may have caused you. I'll do anything to make this up to you. Starting with two butterbeers, on the house. Would you like anything else?"

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said, chuckling. "Really, we forgive you."

"Speak for yourself," said Draco. "She did cause a lot of turmoil…"

"But everything worked out in the end," Hermione pointed out.

Geniva gasped. "You mean, you two…you two are a couple?"

Hermione smiled and nodded. Geniva squealed with delight. Draco grimaced.

"Well," Geniva said, standing back up. "This is cause for celebration. Free drinks for both of you!" She scurried off towards the bar.

"We were already getting free drinks as an apology." Draco frowned.

"Oh well. Free drinks either way. Does it really matter?" Hermione reached out and placed her hand over his.

Draco smiled. "I guess not. Oh, I almost forgot." He reached into his back pocket and pulled something out – a little black box.

Hermione eyed it suspiciously. "What's this?"

"It's a gift," Draco replied. "From me to you."

"Oh, Malfoy, you shouldn't have."

"Is that what you say every time somebody gives you a gift?" Draco teased.

"Sorry," Hermione mumbled. She took the box in her hands and examined it for a moment. It looked familiar. Although, why wouldn't it? It was a small, black box. She'd seen dozens of them in her lifetime. But this one…she'd seen this one before.

Slowly, she opened it up. She gasped when she saw what was inside: it was the ring he had given her when they were under the influence of the potion.

"I'll understand if you don't want it," Draco said quickly. "I mean, after the whole Pansy incident and everything, but…" His voice trailed off as he searched for the right words to say. "I wanted you to have it then, and I still want you to have it now. There is no other girl I would rather see wearing it."

Hermione wasted no time sliding the ring onto her finger. "Oh, I want it," she said. "It's the most beautiful gift I've ever received."

"And you're the most beautiful gift _I'v_e ever received," Draco said. His face turned a light shade of pink.

Hermione blinked the happy tears away. "You're so sweet, Draco Malfoy."

Draco groaned. "Don't get used it. The sweet Draco Malfoy only comes out of hiding once a week or so."

"I think I can deal with that," Hermione said. She rested her head on Draco's shoulder and stared down at the ring on her finger.

For the first time in a very long time, Hermione was happy - perfectly content.

* * *

Blaise glanced solemnly over at Hermione and Draco getting all cuddly over at the table in the corner. Part of him was thrilled that those two crazy kids had finally come to their senses. However, another part of him was downright depressed. 

"They make a cute couple, don't they?" a female voice said.

Looking up, Blaise saw that Ginny Weasley had taken a seat next to him at the bar. "Oh. Hey, Janie."

"It's _Ginny_," she muttered.

"Hmm?" Blaise said, not paying any attention to her.

Ginny decided not to repeat herself. She stared at the Slytherin next to her, who seemed distracted by the young couple over in the corner. "You really like her, don't you?"

This got his attention. "What? Granger? No. I mean, yeah…sure, she's cool. But I don't like her. You know."

Ginny smiled. "I know. Hey, don't feel so bad. There are plenty of other fish in the sea."

Blaise looked at her funny. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Ginny giggled. "It's a Muggle saying. Hermione said it to me when Harry began dating Cho. She meant that there were other boys out there in the world, and that Harry is not the only boy I could ever love." She blushed, realizing she had just admitted to a Slytherin that she was once in love with Harry Potter.

"So you're saying...?"

"I'm saying…Hermione is not the only fish out there for you."

Blaise contemplated this for a few moments, then arched an eyebrow at Ginny. "You think so?"

Ginny nodded. "Of course."

"Really? Say…how are you at swimming?"

Ginny stared blankly at Blaise, then, wide-eyed, said, "Oh…when I said there are other fish, I didn't…I mean, I wasn't referring to _me_ -"

Blaise chuckled. "Calm down, Junie. I was just joking."

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief.

"So…" he said, now turning his attention completely to Ginny. "Did you ever find another fish?"

"Hmm?"

"Harry Potter. Is he still the only fish in the sea?"

Ginny avoided his gaze. Shrugging, she said, "I don't know. Sometimes, I think he is. Other times, I think maybe it's time to see if perhaps there's another fish swimming around somewhere. The sea is pretty big, you know."

"It certainly is," Blaise agreed. He stood up, turned to Markus who was behind the counter, and said to him, "Get this girl a butterbeer. On me." He placed some money down on the counter and turned back to Ginny. "Thanks for the pep talk, Ginny. You've been a big help."

Ginny was stunned. He'd actually gotten her name right that time! "No problem, Zabini. Hey, are you leaving now?"

"Yeah," Blaise said. "I need some fresh air. Or ocean water, perhaps."

Ginny giggled. "Okay, well…I'll see you around."

"Yeah. I'll see you around." Blaise began to walk off, but at the last minute said, "Oh, and, if you ever decide Potter's not the fish for you, you know where my coral reef is." Smirking, he walked away before a very stunned Ginny even had a chance to respond.

She wasn't positive, but she could have sworn that Blaise Zabini had just come on to her.

And she didn't mind.

* * *

Sadie was mad. Watching Draco and Hermione acting all lovey-dovey made her ill. _She_ was supposed to be the one so lovingly resting her head on Draco's shoulder – not _Hermione_! Ugh! 

"Maddening, isn't it?"

Sadie took her glare off of Draco and Hermione long enough to glare up at the person who had just spoken to her.

Not even bothering to inquire whether or not she could join Sadie at her table, Pansy Parkinson took a seat across from her. "You must be seeing red," she said, smirking.

"I didn't say you could sit here," Sadie snapped.

Pansy ignored her comment. "Trust me, I know how it feels. You know…to be in love with Draco Malfoy and to not have him return the feelings. It's not the best feeling in the world, is it?"

Sadie softened a bit. "No," she said softly. "It's lousy."

"Well, you'll get over it," Pansy said. "You may not have him as a boyfriend, but at least he's still alive. That's all that matters." She snickered. "Next time you want to try to make somebody fall in love with you, you might want to make sure whatever method you use won't _kill him_."

Sadie scoffed. "If you're referring to the whole love potion thing, it really wasn't as bad as everyone thought."

"Wasn't as bad?" Pansy burst out laughing. "You practically burned the flesh off of Granger's hands. And had Draco ingested it, we'd be attending his funeral right now. Not the smartest thing for you to do." She chuckled. "I can't believe you didn't get expelled. A month's worth of detention with Snape is bad, but not nearly as bad as you deserve."

"What was I supposed to do?" Sadie cried. "I was losing him to a_ mudblood_!"

Pansy shook her head. "Oh, honey, you weren't losing him. You never _had_ him to begin with. He was just using you to get what he wanted." Her gaze flickered over to Draco and Hermione's table. "And it worked like a charm."

Sadie pouted. "This isn't fair." She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms across her chest. Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into her head. "Hey! I have a brilliant idea! What if you and I _team up_ together? Between the two of us, I'm sure we could come up with a surefire way to break them up!"

"And _then_ what?" Pansy asked. "Let's say we come up with some brilliant scheme, and it works, and Draco and Granger break up and decide they never want to see each other again. Then what happens? You and I will still both be in love with him, only then, we'd have to work _agains_t each other to try and win his heart. And, well, you'd probably end up inadvertently killing him, and then we'd both be left with nothing. No," she shook her head profusely. "We're not going to team up for anything. Besides…as much as I hate to admit it, the mudblood makes Draco happy. And a happy Draco is a good Draco to be around. He's so much better than the grumpy Draco. I actually prefer to see him like this."

"How _could_ you?" Sadie practically screamed. Noticing she'd attracted a bit of attention from her outburst, she lowered her voice and said, "You're just going to give up?"

Pansy sighed. "Yes, actually, I am. And you should, too. I'm pretty sure you've ruined any chances of ever being with him. So get over it."

Sadie scowled. "Well I don't _want_ to get over it."

"Well too bad, because you're going to have to," Pansy said, standing up. She glanced over at Draco and Hermione one more time. "The best girl won," she muttered sadly. Without even saying goodbye, she walked off, leaving Sadie to mope all by herself.

Maybe Pansy was right. It would be pointless to try to win Draco over now. As much as she hated to admit it, she'd been defeated.

___Oh well_, she thought_. __It's not like it will be hard for me to find somebody else. I am beautiful and popular and rich, and any guy would be damn lucky to have me._

Automatically feeling better, Sadie smiled to herself. She was already starting to get over Draco Malfoy.

* * *

___Later that evening...  
_

They stood in front of the Gryffindor common room's entrance, engaged in a very tender goodnight kiss that neither seemed to want to break.

Hermione, however, pulled away slightly when she realized what time it must be. "I think maybe it's time we parted ways."

"I think you should just stop thinking," Draco murmured, leaning in to capture her mouth once more.

"No, seriously," Hermione said, giggling. She blocked his oncoming kiss with the palm of her hand. "It's getting really late."

"The young woman is right, you know," the Fat Lady chimed in from her portrait. "You don't want to get caught out here snogging by a professor, do you?"

Draco groaned. He had forgotten that the Fat Lady was even there. "Fine," he said in defeat. "I suppose I should let you get to bed. After all, you need all the beauty sleep you can get." He grinned.

Hermione scoffed. "And I suppose you should be getting to bed, too. Or are ferrets _nocturnal_ animals?"

This widened Draco's grin. He leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. "We are quite the pair, aren't we?"

Hermione smiled. "Indeed we are. Goodnight, Malfoy."

"Goodnight," he said softly.

Hermione turned to whisper the password to the Fat Lady, but before she could, Draco said, "Wait, Granger."

She turned back around to see Draco standing there…his usual cocky expression replaced by something she couldn't quite place. He almost looked…shy. "Yes?"

He paused for a brief moment, as if contemplating whether or not he should say anything. Finally, he said, "I lo-"

Hermione's eyes widened. Was he about to say what she thought he was going to say?

A look of panic filled his eyes at once, and he quickly cleared his throat. "What I mean to say is…I…don't completely hate you."

Hermione had to try really hard not to burst out laughing. She rolled her eyes instead. "Goodnight Draco," she reiterated with a grin.

When he grinned back at her, Hermione could have sworn he was blushing.

"Goodnight." With that, he turned around and walked away, heading back to the Slytherin common room, whistling the whole way.

He _had_ been about to say what she had thought he was going to say. Hermione's grin remained plastered to her face. So…he just wasn't ready yet. That was okay. Hermione wasn't even sure she was ready. This was still all so new to both of them, after all. There would be plenty of time in the future to speak those three special words to each other.

She ignored the funny look she was receiving from the Fat Lady as she muttered the password. The minute the door opened and she'd slipped through the portrait hole, she stopped. Before heading into the common room to catch up with her friends, she smiled down at the beautiful ring on her finger and whispered, in a voice so soft that even she could barely hear it, "I love you too, Malfoy."

The End.

* * *

Author's Note: So there it is – the end of my story. I can't believe I actually finished it! 

I would just like to take a moment and thank EVERY SINGLE PERSON who reviewed this story – whether you were signed in or anonymous; whether your review was positive or negative; whether your review was 2 words or 2 paragraphs. You have no idea how much it meant to me to know that people actually took the time to read this story. You have all made my first fanfic writing experience a real joy! So thank you all so very much!

xoxoxoxo

lolagirl


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